The New World
Q’Orianka Kilcher, Colin Farrell, Christian Bale; Directed by Terrence Malick
The New World opens with Britain’s initial attempt to colonize the newly discovered land across the Atlantic. One of the first things the colonists prepare to accomplish in their first hour there is execution. We are introduced to Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell) who is about to be hanged for mutinous remarks to his fellow travelers while at sea. His life is spared by his superior, however, - something that will incidentally happen to him again further on in time. During attempts to communicate with the Native Americans who reside close to their settlement at Jamestown, Smith comes across the spirited and enchanting Pocahontas (Q’Orianka Kilcher). His first feelings of curiosity about the chief’s young daughter steadily grow into love. But fear of this love eventually begins to take over, and Smith abandons her. From here, the story then follows Pocahontas’s own journey through her short, but ultimately fulfilling life. We travel with her from her broken-hearted half-life away from Smith, to finding surprising new hope and devotion to the kindly John Rolfe (Christian Bale). She marries him in a Christian ceremony, and they have a son together. The young princess is soon summoned to meet the King and Queen of England, and it is a fascinating scene to watch as she steps off the ship and into a world she had only seen pictures of once or twice in books. Anyone who is familiar with the history of the story of Pocahontas knows that she doesn’t make it back to Virginia, succumbing to disease before boarding the ship back home. But the film ends on an uplifting and hopeful note, seeing that her wild spirit and joyous abandon continues to live on through their son.
Simply put, this film is a simple and rare gift to the world. Malick’s film is a lush visual and emotional canvas of the purity and innocence of beauty and love. Sometimes all that carried a scene were birdcalls and the wind whispering through the trees of the still-virgin country. An achingly beautiful score by James Horner accompanied visions of stunning sunsets on the waters of still lakes. As the script was very light on dialogue, the actors called upon would have to hold the ability to convey unspoken thoughts through facial expression, and each actor and actress cast here was fully capable in this way. Q’Orianka Kilcher, who played Pocahontas, was a particularly stunning talent. Able to break your heart with a single glance, every smile she offered lit everything up around her. She was radiant, and the very embodiment of the joy and innocence of first love. I dare anyone to try not falling in love with her. Colin Farrell and Christian Bale as the two Johns were very smart casting. Mr. Farrell was fully able to play the renegade soldier, transitioning well into a man possessed by something he did not expect to find so very far from home. Christian Bale’s Rolfe was the rock when tragedy threatened to take Pocahontas’s sanity, and he persuaded us to fall in love with him just as Pocahontas eventually did. All this being said, this film is not at all a ‘light and happy’ movie. We are presented with the horrible truths of the hardships the colonists had to endure. Starvation, cannibalism, treason, and rampant disease were harsh realities that Smith tried to escape while in the arms of Pocahontas. A bloody war between the colonists and the ‘Naturals’, as they called them, results in plunging the entire company into despair, and leaves many of them hanging onto the very edge of their reason.
(Spoiler) Both Terrence Malick and Christian Bale succeed in persuading us that Pocahontas makes the right decision she faces at the end of the film between the two men. There is the good, solid man that she knows has and will continued to provide for her and for their young son. And there is the reckless, but passionate first love who she gave her heart to, which he eventually deserted. In her decision is truth, and she discovers the simple honesty of what real love is.
Today’s movie-going audiences are being conditioned to expect fast-aced stories packed with action and quick delivers, and anyone who happens to be a particularly impatient person or one that possesses a short attention span may be inclined to write this film off. The pacing is very slow, but hopefully they will come to realize how well it works with the film. This being the only criticism, and a half-criticism at that, the final standing is that The New World is one of the most beautiful films ever committed to celluloid, - visually, musically, emotionally, spiritually, the list goes ever on and on. As it was only distributed in limited release, it was a great joy and pleasure for me to be able to discover this film. Terrence Malick deserves great praise for this work of art, as does its young star, Q’Orianka Kilcher. Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki’s Academy Award nomination for the film’s cinematography (he used only natural light) was also well deserved. Do not, by any means, miss the chance to see this film. Rent it now and treat yourself to an early Christmas present.
Story = A
Acting = A
Visuals = A
Originality = A
Enjoyability = A-
Overall Grade = A
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