Brief Synopsis: It’s 1823, and the fur trade has never been more lucrative...or more dangerous. While trapping in unmapped territory somewhere in the Dakota region, Hugh Glass and his ragtag band are attacked by an Arikara war/rescue party, searching for Chief Elk Dog’s abducted daughter (whom we later learn was actually kidnapped by French trappers). After a brutal battle, Glass and the remaining survivors — including John Fitzgerald, a gruff veteran trapper with a heart of stone; Jim Bridger, a naive kid; and Hawk, Glass’s half-Pawnee son — retreat downriver and head back to Fort Kiowa. But after Hugh Glass is mauled by a bear, everything changes. Unable to carry Glass over the mountains, Captain Andrew Henry elects to have volunteers stay behind until Glass dies so he can have proper burial rights. Fitzgerald, Bridger, and Hawk volunteer for various reasons, except not long afterward Fitzgerald’s patience runs out. He attempts to “mercy” kill Glass and is caught by Hawk. Knowing the gallows await him if Hawk gets word back to Captain Henry, Fitzgerald murders Glass’s son and lies to Bridger to convince him to run away from the scene of the crime. Fueled by divine intervention or sheer vengeance-laced adrenaline, Glass survives — crawling and limping his way back to civilization to seek his revenge on Fitzgerald.

I kind of feel tempted to just let the bear attack scene simply stand as my explanation for why The Revenant won this award. 

The defense rests! Choreography is all about human movement and rhythm. Whether it’s a musical dance number (Zac Efron and Zendaya spinning around the circus ring in “Rewrite the Stars”), an intense fight scene (The Prowler pursuing Miles Morales up the staircase inside Aunt May’s house), or a stunt (Black Panther backflipping off a speeding car onto the top of another car), there should be a deliberate plan of action for why the characters are doing something — regardless of if those decisions are coming from the director, the coordinators, or the actors. The reason I wanted to highlight choreography — especially for dance, fight, and stunt scenes — is because how the characters interact or move within the space around them affects the film’s timing/pacing and dramatic tension. The Revenant is exceptional in this regard because it forces the audience to live the events in real time with the characters. We never cut away from the action, we never speed up or slow down the events — however long it takes the characters to do something is how long we experience that moment. We’re always caught in a state of dramatic tension (probably explains why it’s super exhausting to watch The Revenant) because it’s like watching a live feed of the action. It’s naturalistic storytelling at its finest, and it does not work without the ultra-precise choreography.