The golden globe winner movie that had a scintillating cinematography took five years to complete its shooting. Filmmakers had to change shooting location from Canada to Argentina because the winters have become shorter in Canada due to climate change and relocating was the only option to complete the project. This is one of the major indirect messages that governments, multinational companies and all stakeholders need to preserve our only home in this vast cosmos. The financial greed of corporations is a huge block in taking concrete measures to halt damage done by ever-increasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The longevity of human and other species existence on our fragile planet depends on how humans tackle with global warming. The relentless profit-making behaviour of humans poses a major threat to the sustainability of all life on Earth.
Also, the movie talks about making the film in extreme weather conditions, it is inspired by the Hugh Glass experience, a folklore of a huntsman who was attacked by a grizzly bear but he managed to kill it, however, in the process severely injures himself, and to add his misery, his fellow huntsmen left him alone in frostbiting snowed wilderness. The story revolves around the fighting spirit of human which instigates to fight against all odds against one's journey of life and the challenges it throws at us. It ponders over the notion of revenge that how it serves to act as a driving force at first but then later after taking revenge that surge of energy and purpose fades away, leaving behind an empty feeling.
The documentary highlights how multinational greed led to the blatant disregard of a tribal human society of the Pawnee people who have been deprived of their native lands for the purpose of constructing dams and for oil exploration.
The director draws attention towards the disconnection of modern day human with nature that is leading us to blind hunt for natural resources. The mechanized world and the alarming penetration of information technology into our lives have made us numb to the damage done to our landscapes, mangroves, wetlands, glaciers, forests and biodiversity.