The New World
by Terrence Malick
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: August Schellenberg, Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer, Colin Farrell, Q'orianka KilcherDirector: Terrence Malick
Brand: NEW Line Home Video
Writer: Terrence Malick
Producer: Bill Mechanic
Producer: Billy Weber
Producer: Carey Russell
Producer: Ivan Bess
Producer: Mark Ordesky
Producer: Peter La Terriere
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-09
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- AC-3; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC
Movie Reviews of The New World
Movie Review: A New Beginning
Summary: 5 Stars
'Let us make a new beginning here,' states Captain John Smith, world weary mercenary thrust to a new land where his past trangressions may be wiped clean and he can truly start over anew. Colin Farrell's Smith is the archetype of the European lured to the 'new world' in hopes of finding riches, fame, and more than anything else, a chance for redemption. Whilst few found gold or glory, redemption was there for the taking. Some truly understood the meaning of these new Indies, while others, like Smith himself, unfortunately sailed past regretting the loss of a treasure once theirs.
With 'The New World,' Malick has indeed embarked on a new beginning. Or maybe not all that new for those familiar with his earlier masterpieces like Badlands and Thin Red Line. Like the TRL, 'The New World' is an exquisitely beautiful portrait of the clash between the 'civilized' and the 'natural'. Malick doesn't hide his belief that our modern ills of alienation and destruction stem from our separation from our natural surroundings. In TRL, the tranquil and peaceful lives of the South Pacific islanders are placed in sharp contrast with the icy war machines of the Americans and Japanese, both oblivious to the lessons the Melonesian aboriginals have to offer. In his latest film, Malick goes even further with this conflict, contrasting the vile-smelling, gold-hungry and cannibalistic Englishmen imprisoned in their wooden jail with the kind-natured and yet virile natives who live in pious harmony with their natural environment, their 'mother,' as Pocahontas addresses her. While some may have trouble swallowing Malick purposely stark contrasts between the European and the American worlds, the mind-numbing visual beauty of Emmanuel Lubezki's camera work makes a strong case for the American Indian's superiority in the art of living. Malick gives us scenes of frolicking children, unburdened and unpunished, enjoying the fruits of their Eden. Scene after scene shows a community unfettered and balanced, living without greed, resentment or injustice. For the 1607 European, this strange land and its inhabitants must have harkened forth images of Paradise Lost.
Which is how Captain John Smith begins to see his new home. Sent upriver to search for the 'other sea,' Smith senses himself pulled away from his Old World roots deeper and deeper into the unknown. 'What is it that draws me further on?,' he asks of this land. Soon captured by the local Algonquin tribe, he finds himself at the mercy of Chief Powhatan. His summary execution is delayed by the intervention of the King's favorite daughter, Pocahontas. One among 100 of his children, she was set apart from the others by her 'features, proportion, wit and spirit.' Like Smith, she is in many ways an exception in her culture. Smith is an outcast due to his mutinous ways, while Pocahontas separates herself from her tribe through her kindness towards the newcomers.
Placing a grandly tragic love story within a larger historical context, Malick expands on a theme he already experimented with in Badlands, that of two individuals driven together by an unknown attraction, misunderstood by their respective cultures. Whilst Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate can be seen as final products of the lawless and profoundly individualistic American frontier, then Smith and Pocahontas can be similarly viewed as products of their vastly incompatible cultures. The true beauty of this film lies in how both characters attempt to transcend their cultural and personal limits.
Colin Farrell gives a solid, if superficial, performance as Captain Smith. A true pioneer, he feels drawn to further explore his new found paradise. Rarely do we see Smith engaged in dialogue. Rather, Farrell's Smith monolgues his way through the film, providing a strong complement to Lubezski's stellar film work. For example, as the natives work at their evening fishing, both Pocahontas and Smith stare at each other longingly while bathing in the James River. In the meantime, Smith's ongoing internal commentary unfolds in the background. 'Love, should we deny it when it visits us?' A perfect complement to the given visuals. This mixture of minimal dialogue/monologue, voluptuous camera work and James Horner's brilliantly understated musical score, all serve to create a grand artistic whole. This blinding tapestry of color, sound, and most of all, feeling, makes 'The New World' some of the most mesmerizing two hours of film one will ever see. An epic love poem played out before your eyes with sumptuous and almost otherworldly beauty.
While many reviewers have complained about the 'tedious' nature of this film, this says more of their limitations than it does about the film. If you can give yourself up to the experience, 'The New World' is anything but boring. It is more like a drug trip of the most positive kind.
In such a film where visual beauty and sensory impression count for so much, the characters here tend to be put into the background. In fact, some of the all-star cast could have be used to greater effect. Christopher Plummer, Wes Studi, John Savage, all great actors, were highly underused. They all play very minor, almost accessory, roles in constrast to Colin Farrell and amazing newcomer, Q'orianka Kilcher. Even Farrell is underused to some extent. His motivations are only superficially sketched out, and I felt that Farrell never really dug deep enough into Smith's troubled soul to give us the real Captain John Smith. Kilcher, on the other hand, gives not only a moving debut performance as the Indian Princess, but more than anything, provides the film's cohesion. 'The New World' is Kilcher's film, and no doubt Malick wanted it that way. With her doe-like expressions and innocent dignity, Kilcher IS Pocahontas. Kilcher's Pocahontas represents the natives' purity and self-sacrifice, the true nobility of the American Indian, still unspoiled by the grime and greed of European civilization. Like with Farrell's Smith, Kilcher's Pocahontas is laconic to the extreme. But this is no grave fault. Her tear-filled glances, lithe deer-like movements and pregnant silences speak volumes. You just have to be listening.
Pocahontas makes the ultimate sacrifice for her love, giving up her family and nation, submitting herself to a humiliating assimilation, which luckily never kills her native spirit. Smith, on the other hand, runs away from Pocahontas' offer of a life together, free from both their restrictive cultures. Instead, he pursues his reckless dreams of reaching the 'indies,' slowly regretting that he may have indeed already found them and passed them by. In his absence, colonist John Rolfe becomes enraptured by Pocahontas' kind spirit, while spying on her helping the less fortunate (the pilloried) of Jamestown settlement. Christian Bale's Rolfe is masterfully played, much more so than Farrell's Smith. Even though his presence in the film is kept to a minimum, Bale gives us a thoughtful and just Rolfe, who though deeply in love with his child-bride, knows her heart lies elsewhere. Some of the film's most poignant moments are when John Rolfe asks for the hand of the unsuspecting Pocahontas. As Horner's haunting score lilts in the background, Pocahontas replies with no simple yes or no, but with a question of seminal importance not only for herself, but also for her people as well. 'Are you kind?,' she asks with a vulnerable longing, clutching Rolfe's belt with a child-like faith and desparation. Kilcher's Pocahontas is a waif adrift, lost and at the mercy of a people who understand neither her culture nor her pure heart.
From start to finish, Kilcher provides the unflinching dignity to this film. She is the 'new world.' Not just for Smith and Rolfe, but for us postmoderns as well. Malick has not only reworked a classic love story in bold and bright colors, but through Q'orianka Kilcher, has given back the Native American his/her rightful and dignified place in American film. What Dances with Wolves and Last of the Mohicans failed to do, Terence Malick has achieved with one majestic blow. Indeed, a new beginning. Be stalwart and follow Captain Smith's example: listen to that which lures you on.
Summary of The New World
A drama about explorer john smith & the clash between native americans & english settlers in the 17th century. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Colin Farrell Christian Bale Run time: 135 minutes Rating: Pg13Similar DVD Movies
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