The New World [DVD]

I saw this film at the cinema when it was originally released, but it's taken me awhile to buy and play the DVD. It's strange how over the years since then my mind has come back to this film, breaking through momentarily from my subconscious. And when I read a recent article in `The Guardian' newspaper by John Patterson that praised it as the best film of the decade, I knew I had to purchase it and relive it. (Note, this is the 130-minute version; the Blue ray disc lasts 170 minutes.) The opening is extremely evocative with a few shiploads of colonists slowly moving upriver to found the colony of Jamestown in the year 1607. Their journey is made to the sound of Wagner's opening to `Rhinegold'. In fact, there is a very effective use of music made throughout this film. And as the colonists fan out into the undergrowth after their landing, I could not help think of similar scenes in Malick's previous movie, `The Thin Red Line'. Indeed, the film adopts the same expressing of thoughts that was so much a feature of that moving motion picture. The film opens in 1607, but closes in the year 1616. Pocahontas has become Rebecca, a curiosity at the English court of King James I. Ultimately this is a love story between the American Indian Pocahontas and her two successive `husbands', Captain Smith (played by Colin Farrell) and then John Rolfe (Christian Bale). But the film is also a meditation on the founding of America. When one of the colonists within minutes finds some oysters, the captain declares, "We're going to live like kings!" How right - and how wrong - he was! This is no romanticised picture of the founding of Virginia. The extras on this disc merely confirm what can be deduced from the film itself, namely that every effort has been made to ensure the authenticity of the film's narrative and style. It was filmed barely miles form the site of the original colony with the ships of the colony's museum, and all in natural light. The pace is steady, sometimes slow, but never without interest. There are long periods with no dialogue except the expression of the mind's thoughts and feelings. Sometimes there is too much mumbling and there are also some visual inconsistencies, for example in the numbers of men and boys. The editing is often very jumpy, and I notice there are four editors credited, so it sometimes feels that you are watching four films in one. But because the soundtrack is continuous, there is a solidity to the audio-visual experience. The extras include an hour-long `making of ...' in which it seems everyone but the notoriously reclusive director has something interesting to say. In his `Guardian' article, James Patterson declared that "when all the middlebrow Oscar-dross of our time has eroded away ... `The New World' will stand tall, isolated and magnificent, like Kubrick's black monolith." I'm not sure I would go that far, but it certainly is a masterpiece; once seen, it will never be forgotten.

Was it made by any other director, I would rate it 5 stars, for the visionary and incredible force of his visual and poetic touch. Being a Malick film, it is "Only" 4 stars, just because here Malick starts to become a little self-derivative, but still staying at such sublime heights that you can't help being amazed by his style. It is the second film he made after 20 years of silence, following, few years later, his magnificent return on the big screen with The Thin Red Line. The New World is a sort of sequel or prequel of that, although set in another story and time. It is made of the same stuff as the previous film and somehow even more extreme than that: a constant Voice over of the two main characters, that alternate and interweave with one another and with the unfolding of the story, mixing with the magnificent music and ambient sounds of the scenes, and creating, along with the wonderful photography that captures intimate moments as well as spectacular landscape and magic nature, a flow of consciousness suspended between beauty of purity and the sudden and shocking realism of human violence. The New World is the story of a slow, inevitable path to destruction cause by the irruption of civilization. But it is not so simple, because Colin Farrell and Colin Firth, the threat and the solution of the story, represent the two faces of western world, two sides of the same domination, one brought by violence, the other by culture. The latter, representing the old world, has to bitterly face with the former, trying to get wrong things right, but once the conquest has started, there is no way to stop it. And so Pochaontas get stuck in the middle, only left with the choice between one of the two cages. In a sense The New World is also a gigantic metaphor of human and sentimental relationships, with the woman torn between two ideal kind of men: the brutal and physical one and the more educated and rational one. So you can enjoy it on 2 different layers and decide if you want to approach it in an emotional way or a rational one. And this is one of the main values of this maybe unresolved but extremely fascinating and unique film, whose incredible cinematographic aspects are so perfectly exposed by the fantastic blu ray transfer

. I love the beginning of the film that slowly drifts into tranquillity in beautiful film imagery and music: The three ships arriving in view from greenery land where the sun captures the light in shadow from the sky: The unusual dance movements and playfulness of the Native Americans' -'inquisitive and gentle like deer' -it all intrigued and captured my attention: "They are gentle, loving, faithful, lacking in guile and trickery. "The words denoting, 'lying, envy, slander and forgiveness' -have never been heard: "They have no sense of possession. " 'Real' -is what I thought was a dream." And yet, in a dreamlike quality and tale, this is how the story unfolds -but how very different this film would have been in mood without the haunting and lovely musical score: from a long journey to form a new settlement into a colony among Native Americans'? The words are often spoken in quietly voiced, and imagined thoughts -in confrontation, in harmonisation to communicate in division of languages between two very different cultures from ancestral nations. There are no horrors to witness to unsettle the viewer in alarming terror: but there are hardships, hunger, fighting and poor discipline, and a constant threat in fear from the natives to be conquered, to be colonized in control of their freedom? I like the eventual pageant meeting at the Royal Court with King James and the daughter of Chief Powhatan: 'Pocahontas!' -the girl, hypnotic to mesmerising beauty to Captain John Smith -and to the camera lens itself! The beautiful filming and music drifts and lingers along in 172mins of viewing time -and a piano concerto by Mozart ( no.23 ) is prominent throughout to enhance a sadness of a love story that I had not mentioned -but in a longing desire that the film seems intent to convey! Directed by Terrence Malick Music by James Horner Cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki Starring Q'orianka Kilcher, Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg.... I saw the film in the cinema at the Tavistock Wharf ( Devon ) on Thursday, 30th March 2006 ( I still have the box office ticket! ) : An afternoon viewing at 2.00pm that drifted into an early evening visit to the 'Tavistock Inn' -in a reflective mood to engage my imagination and enchantment -with my thoughts, not so very far removed from 'The New World' in beauty of this film. .

Raw, brutal & pioneering.

There is a tendency to talk about the publicity shy film director Terrence Malick as yet another unfullfilled genius of a demanding industry. I have never seen "The Thin Red Line" but continue to be impressed by "Days of Heaven" My present purchase of "The New World" was stimulated by a complimentary piece which had originally appeared in The Guardian newspaper. The supposed brilliance of a film, which commands a dedicated following, escapes me There are certainly virtues for the film is well made and exceptionally well shot with some beautiful images. The production team have also succeeded in creating a certain period feel although costumes and sets are rather too clean for this period of history. The short action sequences are also well handled. Among the players the young Q'orianka Kilcher is easy on the eye and does possess some potential as an actress. It is always good to see the seasoned professional Christopher Plummer although here wasted in a poor little part. The negatives include some obscure and at times incomprehensible voice overs and a clumsy performance from a mumbling Colin Farrell who is not helped by an odd Oirish accent. Reviews on Amazon swing from five stars, which describe the film as a work of sublime genius and one star when it is dismissed as seriously boring. The film certainly deserves a better rating than the one star but my own sympathies tend towards the lower end. I can appreciate why the film enjoys a loyal following but I doubt that it has great commercial appeal. Here it is no surprise that it had only a very limited release in England. As so often marketing necessities demand that the DVD cover gives a totally wrong impression. Trottman

This is specifically a review of the Extended Cut in relation to the original cut, for those who are wondering wether the extension is worthwhile or not, as i did before purchasing. I had seen the original cut a couple of times and come to the conclusion that it was one of the most beautiful films I had ever experienced, and one of my favourites of the films in general, a genuine masterpiece. I was unsure what the extension would add, wether it would actually improve the film or perhaps even diminish it but I definitely wanted to see for myself. After watching it i can say that if you are a fan of the original cut, it is definitely worth buying, if you are not, leave this place. I was surprised by just how substantial the new material was, and how seamlessly it was integrated. The extension to the film is not just a few extra scenes spliced in here and there but a restructuring of the film itself incorporating new elements and replacing old ones in a way that flowed quite naturally, the whole thing had more detail, more depth. It would be uneccessary for me to try and list all the additions, but highlights for me were extensions to the scenes of Smith living with the natives that made the whole sequence even more mesmerising, giving greater insight into their daily lives, and extensions and additions to the relationship of Smith and 'Pocahontas' that gave their story deeper impact and involvement. As a great fan of Terrence Malick's film making in general, I'd relish any opportunity to see more of his work, and so this was in the end an unmissable purchase for me. If you too are a fan and want more, I'd definitely recommend it, if you haven't seen either cut of the film before, I think i might suggest watching the original first to see if you want to go deeper. If you are not a fan, why are you still here? I thought I instructed you to leave. Anyway, where's that 6 hour cut of The Tree of Life?

I am a great fan of Terence Malik movies, and my expectations were high when I saw the movie, high enough for me to buy the dvd (though the extras were not very enlightening about the movie, the historical context, or Malik's intent). It would be horribly disappointing if you went in looking for another Last of the Mohicans, just as it would be frustrating to look for another Saving Sgt Ryan when you go to see The Thin Red Line. What you get is a cinematic poem. There is a story, and there is drama, but not in the conventional sense. The story and the drama lie in the gradual discovery of a new land, with new people in it, new beginnings - the ruminations of John Smith about building a new commonwealth where all will help one another, exploitation of labour will be shunned, and nobody shall make profit out of weakness is a standing indictment of what we know will be the nature of the new world being made; we've only been here an hour and we've already made a mess of it is the telling counterpoint made by Christopher Plummer's commander later. The starving times, the distrust of the natives who are planning to destroy the colony if the settlers don't go back, the wonder as Smith's love for Pocahontas grows, are all told through the natural surroundings, the (anachronistic) music, the trance-like language - inner monolgues in the best Malik fashion. Then - ouch, I hate to say this, but the last 40 minutes go all badly wrong. They return to England, the inner monologues (almost) vanish along with the beauty of the surroundings, but just where some sort of drama is needed to keep the film going, the cinematic poem turns into a costume documentary where all the characters wander around lost, in a pointless introduction of the native princess to King James and his gracious Queen (the music stops being anachronistic, turning into the Jacobean artifice of the masque, just when I was hoping for John Lennon to curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git). Sorry, I did enjoy the film, but the last 40 minutes did suck, and doesn't get better on further showings.

WARNING: If you follow the advertising trailer and Bluray cover you will expect an all-out action movie - it is not this. While there is certainly some action in this movie this is essentially a love story. The movie, above all, takes its time. We, the auddience, live with John Smith in the Indian encampment for a long time as characters are slowly revealed and interactions take place. For action lovers, there are longueurs but they are meaningful and allow us to really SEE the beauty of nature of the New World. Terence Malick, the director, seems to wish us to experiience what we see rather than rush on to the next image. The acting is good and especially Q'orianka Kilcher who plays Pocahontas and is most moving as John Smith's (Colin Farell)young love. Farell, Christopher Plummer and Christian Bale all are effective in their roles. There is a marvellous image to the end of this long movie where we see Wes Studi, in traditional Indian costume, walking around a formal English Palace Garden; he says nothing about his situation but words are not required when such an effective juxtapostion is used so well. For me, an excellent movie, especially if you see it as a love story rather than an action adventure. Highly recommended.