The New World

The New World
Directed by Terrence Malick
****
Summary: A meditative overview of the settling at Jamestown, focusing especially on the relationship between Pocahontas, John Smith, and John Rolfe.
Like: Pocahontas's gorgeous dream of what it could have been.
Comments: I'll admit at the very beginning of this review that I am an awe-struck Terrence Malick fan. And from what I've read, there are others like myself, who would love a Malick-made adaptation of the phone book, and then there are those who will not even begin to try to sit still and listen. I, of course, see the latter category as closet "lovers-of-Michael-Bay-movies." But let's talk about the film, shall we?

Terrence Malick, the writer-director who has made four films over a 30-year period, has a beautiful soul. No, I don't know the man, and really haven't even seen him speak that much on DVD special features. But it is obvious through his writing and directing that he is a spiritual seeker and a lover of God's Creation. And he is so skillful at showing rather than telling that he could probably direct an effective 2-hour film with no dialogue. It is my belief that films like his are good for the soul, in putting it at rest, opening its eyes, and tuning its ears to hear the metaphysical within the physical. I can see how an antsy, high-blood-pressured critic would have no patience for films like these. They require submission and patience, and reward those with wondrously moving beauty and truth.

I'm struggling to remember what I've seen Colin Farrell in, but this man has extraordinary gifts. In the role of Captain John Smith, he takes the central meditative role that Jim Caviezel occupied in The Thin Red Line. Farrell, in this film, held you transfixed and communicated complexities of the image-bearing form. Malick loves to communicate through a combination of images and narrative voice-over, intricate as a dance. The characters portrayed in this way are the spiritually sensitive kind, and the line in the voice-over between their vocal thoughts and unspoken soul thoughts is thin. I believe this fourth film of Malick's has gone the farthest in exploiting the power behind this technique, for in it, he brings together and apart two people like this.

The girl Pocahontas (never referred to by name in the film) is aware that her life is part of something much greater than herself. She is very much a person of her own culture, but the hints of Something that accompany her relationship to Captain Smith reflect Malick's own suggestion that this world echoes the Beyond. By the way, this actress, Q'Orianka Kilcher, is stunningly sensitive and graceful, given her young age. When she meets John Rolfe halfway through the film, we see the mutual admiration typical of human relationships. But her connection with John Smith, established in the film's first half and returned to at its end, show us soul speech, the kind we participate in with God. And the complications that develop from this triangle are dealt with in an astoundingly profound morality. The films aesthetics are highly refined as to enhance the story rather than detract from it. The lush cinematography won it an Academy award nomination (the film's only one), and James Horner's score profits from Wagner, Smetana, Copland and John Williams.

I found this film to be wonderfully edifying, and in a way, wanted it to keep going on all day. I know that this is not a film that will resound with everyone. Some of that, I believe, is the Western, Gen X tendency toward impatient narratives. Some of it may be simply temperament. But for those of you who feel an attraction to this film, find a quiet space of a couple hours and let your soul breathe.
Ideal viewing: Watch this in an undistracted environment with someone you love, or with a fellow believer.
Strengths: Fertilizer for the soul. Grows love and longing. Fosters a parallel appreciation for image-bearers of other cultures while also hinting at God's hand in allowing those cultures to collide.
Warnings: Some PG-13 battle violence that I believe to be tasteful but effectively sorrowful. Also some shades of intimacy that shouldn't pose a problem for most.

Comments

[Will]

What?!?!

Are you making this up, Jon?

[jsligh]

I believe I read that Q'Orianka Kilcher is the cousin of the singer/songwriter Jewel.