The Revenant is a 2015 survival epic directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, based on Michael Punke's 2002 novel inspired by the historical figure Hugh Glass. Set in the American frontier of 1823, the film follows Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), a skilled frontiersman guiding a fur-trapping expedition through the Louisiana Territory wilderness. After Glass is mauled nearly to death by a grizzly bear and left for dead by the treacherous John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) — who murders Glass's half-Pawnee son Hawk before his eyes — Glass must survive the brutal winter landscape on sheer willpower and the driving need to find Fitzgerald and exact revenge.

The film is a grueling, visually transcendent meditation on survival, grief, and vengeance. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki shot the entire film using only natural light — no artificial lighting was permitted on set — giving the image a frigid, painterly quality that evokes the wilderness landscapes of Bruegel and Caspar David Friedrich. Production was notoriously difficult: filming began in Calgary, Canada, but an unusual lack of snow forced the production to move to the southern tip of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego, one of the most remote and demanding filming locations in cinema history. The extreme cold, the requirement for natural light, and Iñárritu's insistence on long takes meant the production schedule stretched far beyond its original plan.

The Revenant was released on December 25, 2015, and grossed over $533 million worldwide against its $135 million budget. At the 88th Academy Awards it received twelve nominations, winning three: Best Director for Iñárritu (his second consecutive win, following Birdman), Best Actor for DiCaprio (his first Oscar win after five previous nominations), and Best Cinematography for Lubezki (his third consecutive win, following Gravity and Birdman). DiCaprio's long-awaited Oscar victory became a cultural event, celebrated across social media and in years of preceding memes about his then-elusive recognition.