2007 Program - Reviews, credits and stills 2007 Program - Reviews, credits and stills
Colin Farrell, Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer, Q'orianka Kilcher
Terrence Malick enjoys a rather privileged position in cinema. His films are anticipated because they are usually so good and because they're so rare. He's only made four in over thirty years, the latest one being The New World, about the European settlement of Virginia in 1607 that brought the Indian princess Pocahontas face to face with Captain John Smith.
Malick portrays the indigenous lifestyle of the 'naturals' as the Europeans call them as idyllic. They romp and play, but are wary of the intruders.
When Smith leads a party inland to try to set up trade with the naturals the rest of his party is killed but he is spared because of Pocahontas interceding with her father.
Pocahontas virtually becomes Smith's wife, she's caught between her loyalties to the man she loves and her tribe. When Smith leaves to find a Northwest passage, she, believing he is dead, takes up with widower John Rolfe, (CHRISTIAN BALE).
This most mythic of American love stories is based on fact and although Malick brings great authenticity to costuming and production design, he's more concerned with the lyrical. His sweeping and meandering shots over the lush, fertile land is like an ode to the innocence of America that will ultimately be corrupted by the greed of the Europeans.
It is an amazingly beautiful film, it's moving, involving. Malick is a master of his craft. He's cast the unknown (Q'ORIANKA KILCHER) as Pocahontas and she is exquisite, so natural, a perfect foil for (COLIN FARRELL) as Smith, who is fine as is (CHRISTIAN BALE) as Rolfe.
But at the centre of this film is a real beauty, physically and spiritually in the form of Pocahontas who will betray, who will be betrayed, who will meet her destiny at the hands of these people who will have power in her land. It's a wonderful piece of cinema this film.
MARGARET: David.
DAVID: Well, it is, and Terence Malik is a great film maker. It's interesting; the last time that we saw this story was in the form of a Disney cartoon, with Mel Gibson supplying the voice of Captain Smith. But this time, of course, this story, which every American schoolchild seems to know, has been told the real facts have been given us by Malik. I think he's gone to a lot of trouble to try and show things how they were. He does it, as you say, really beautifully. Not only, I think,the scenes where the English settlers arrive on the coast of Virginia and their interaction with the Naturals. But also the scene where Pocahontas goes to England for the first time and, for her, that's a new world as well. I think all that's interesting. But somehow there was some element in the film that disappointed me. I found it a little bit excessively choppy and I found the rhythm of it a little bit annoying. I think we have lost about 15 minutes since the film opened in America actually, because I think Malik has recut it. But did you not find the rhythm a bit awkward?
MARGARET: No, I didn't. You see, what I think is so wonderful is that even though she's a metaphor, she is so believable, credible, gorgeous in this film...
DAVID: Oh she is, yes.
MARGARET: ...that your heart goes out to her, which is why, you know, the ending is so shattering and beautiful, really.
DAVID: Look, don't get me wrong, I think it is a beautiful film.
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MARGARET: I mean, I just sort of went on this journey with this man who knows what he's doing with a camera and with actors, and, you know, it's such a relief to be in good hands in the cinema. DAVID: I know what you mean, yes. Margaret: DAVID: |
The New World is enigmatic filmmaker Terrence Malick's fourth feature in thirty years, and Colin Farrell's latest costume epic post-Oliver Stone period piece Alexander (2005). Farrell swaps his sword n' sandals for a grubby soldier's uniform and a blunderbuss, playing real-life 'colonialist' Captain John Smith. This is a live action retelling of the Pocahontas story made famous in film by Disney in 1995.
Smith was a founder of the very first English colony in America in 1607, specifically, Jamestown, Virginia. Malick's film is a very romantic and ethereal imagining of the relationship he forms with not only his new surroundings but the existing indigenous population. As the famous fable tells us (much of it based in fact), Smith falls in love with Princess Pocahontas, the daughter of the King of the very first tribe of Native Americans the colonialists encounter. The story is also told through her character's eyes, as played by 15 year-old Peruvian actress Q'orianka Kilcher, four years older than when the real Smith and Pocahontas were to have met. As we come to see, she learns and accepts the ways of the West -- and the English language -- very quickly.
Most of Malick's films share a dedicated art house film fan club and The New World is no exception. As would be expected and appreciated - after all Malick did transform true crime film Badlands (1973), share cropper drama Days Of Heaven (1978) and WWII movie The Thin Red Line (1998) from the ugly circumstances of their stories into beautiful and thought provoking film works. (He also simultaneously liberated these films from the restrictions of their genres).
The New World too is primarily a work of art: transcendentally ethereal, overwhelmingly atmospheric; beautiful to look at and listen to. Malick attempts to apply his heavenly style to a story very much grounded in the physical: it's all mud, grime and starvation for the English invaders who are collectively grappling with surviving in this harsh and alien new world throughout its two hours plus run time. It's a fabulously accurate comment on the Western tradition of abhorring and destroying their natural surroundings. (On the other hand the portrayal of the native population is given the upper hand both aesthetically and physically; their relationship with nature and their old world is filled with power, harmony and spirituality).
But this time Malick's choice of style doesn't work quite so well. In spite of its beauty The New World lacks serious credibility. There is only so far beauty and romance can take you in a film, especially when you're dealing with the grim realities of colonialism. The point comes where you just stop buying it and see it as a denial of the darker side of human nature. Ultimately the only option to enjoy it is to watch The New World as wallpaper; pretty but not very meaningful.
It pains me to say it, but that's one thing I never thought I'd say about a Terrence Malick movie...
Should have been a 5 star film.
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