The Revenant at face value is a story of a man who survives a brutal bear attack to then seek revenge on those who killed his son and left him for dead. Could a story be more appealing to American audiences?

Growing up near the Lake District, I was surrounded by the beauty of nature. Mountains, lakes, forests… all were on my doorstep, and the Divine hand was evident all around.

When I was living and working in London there were many times when I would have the urge to get away from the city. I needed to escape the blinking lights, the constant noise, the ever present pollution.

The bards and singers of Wales have always extolled the country’s landscape of mountains hills, valleys and rivers. It is an old stereotype, but one not lacking in abundant foundation.

Humanity is the vicegerent of God on earth and thus the steward of nature. This paraphrases one of the main rallying cries of today’s environmental movement in the Islamic world, paralleled to a significant degree in other religious traditions.

The setting is the Isle of Wāqwāq south of the equator in the Indian Ocean. Men and women are born on the island but without father or mother. Women are born from a special tree.