The New World
New Line Home Video - New Line Home Video
Release date: 2006-05-09
DVD
Director:Terrence Malick
Actors: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg
Adventure, Atmospheric, Biography, Color, Costume Adventure, Drama, Dreamlike, English, Feature, Feature Film-drama, Gentle, Historical Epic, Historical Film, History, Interracial/Cross-Cultural Romance, Lyrical, Meditative, Movie, Period Film, Romance
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The New World
Date undefinedThere is something that deeply grips me about this movie. I really had very little historical knowledge about the Pocahontas story. I eagerly sought out this film when it first came out because I was so moved by Malick's "The Thin Red Line". When I saw The New World" I was transformed; I simply had to know more about the drama. I read 4 books on the subject until I was satiated. I have watched my copy of the original cut many times and just a few days ago I bought the extended version and have seen it once.
As I was watching the longer version I kept thinking whether I liked it or not, comparing and contemplating the effect of all the added material. I am quite divided about the outcome. From one point of view Malick's extended version has skewed the film even more towards the romance between Captain John Smith and the young and nubile Pocahontas. The impact this has is to deepen the sense of loss and suffering that Pocahontas endures when she (thinks) she has lost Smith. The extended version also shows in much more detail how much Smith bonded with and enjoyed his time with the Powhatten natives. There are other colors that are brought out. The relationship between Smith and some of the other leaders of the colonists is strongly enhanced and to good effect. The touching conversation Pocahontas has with Opachancanough, her uncle, at the end of the film, highlights her sense of alientation, confusion but a strong sense of identity with her fellow Powhatten.
What I learned while reading those books is that the movie enhances a great deal of myth. While achieving a high degree of the look and feel of the historical realities of the time period, including re-building an accurate Jamestown replica, the use of clothing and armaments of the era, the movie weaves facts and fiction into a seamless web. One only has to repeat this mantra and all will be well: this is a Hollywood movie, not a documentary.
From another point of view the added material was by and large not needed as the imagination could have filled in some of the details. They are in some ways two different movies; the first version was tightly edited and cut and was stripped bare of excess dialogue and the emphasis then gravitated towards many scenes in which actors said nothing or just emoted with their faces. The second cut is much more wordy with much more voice overs. I actually found the voice overs badly cut as they often were right on top of other people speaking and one could not follow what people were saying; it was distracting and did not add to clarity. Again I found Colin Farrell's voice-overs spoken a bit too softly and it was hard to make out what he was saying.
If I had to choose one version, at this point, I would opt for the original even though the added material is just as lush and beautiful to look at. Sometimes the less said the better. The story, although not historically accurate in so many ways, is very sad. Seen from the perspective of the entire North American natives, this is the beginning of the end of their civilization.
The New World
Date undefinedAmzon's review suggests that Malicks' New World is the 'true' version of Disney's Pocahontas story. However even basic research will reveal that this retelling is as fictional and fallible as Disney's more famous counterpart. For example Smith's relationship with Rebecca/Pocahontas has never been proven to be romantic in nature, which is a central tenet of both Disney's and Malick's.
The film, it must be said, is however beautiful. This is an example of poetic cinema at its best. While not as morally stimulating as 'The Thin Red Line', the film is nethertheless an interesting meditation on love - both for an individual and for idealistic concepts such as nation and belonging.
Where it fails is in a contradiction between a desire to elevate the primitive (shared with 'The Thin Red Line') and a Westernised misinterpretation of Native American concepts. Smith comments that the 'natives' have no concept of ownership, and yet minutes later they deliver lines to the effect of 'the white people are stealing our land'. This appears to be a classic example of a western-centric viewpoint imposed on native values which is at odds, it feels, with Malicks' intentions.
However if you can get past this contradiction, the film is a stimulating example of 'great' American cinema. The latter quarter is perhaps less gripping, but as a whole it is an achievement, even if it is not a masterpiece.
The New World
Date undefinedAs a fourth grade teacher I was pleased with the way this movie was made..as a Collin Farrel AND Christain Bale fan I was through the roof! Although the focus is on the "love story", a lot of it correlates with the Virginia Standards of Learning assessment. This was a great movie and I'm happy to add it to my collection.
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