The New World

Before I discovered Terry Malick’s new movie, I had to sail through these trailers. So do you.

FAILURE TO LAUNCH–What the shit is this?! Matthew McConaughey is a loser who won’t leave home. Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates play his parents who hire Sarah Jessica Parker to “fall in love” with him to get him the hell out of the house. During the preview, my viewing buddy leaned over to me and said, “$10 says that he finds out and starts hating her, but she really fell in love, so she has to get him back.” American romantic comedies suck.

HOOT–A bunch of kids set out to save their local woods (and its owl friends) from becoming a mall. It’s heart is in the right place, but it looks kind of dumb. Of course, so did Holes and that was pretty good.

THE DA VINCI CODE–I really kind of wish that I hadn’t read this book before the movie came out. I might have been a little bit more excited about the movie. But now that I know the book is a little bit lower than mediocre, I know that the movie can’t be a whole lot better. But with Ron Howard and Tom Hanks attached I know I’ll have my ass in the theatre. One thing bugs me, though (besides Tom’s awful hair, of course): Why is the evil albino not played by Jake Busey?! I thought he had the patent on that role!

Yeah, that’s all I can remember at this point. It’s been a couple of days.

But now it’s time to tackle Malick. And a hard chore that can be at times.

We all know the story of how Pocahontas (Q’Orianka Kilcher) saved John Smith’s (Colin Farrel) life and they fell in love (or some reasonable facsimile thereof, considering the fact that she was about 14 and he was probably around 30-ish) and blah, blah, blah. What a lot of people don’t know about is how their relationship ended and her relationship with John Rolfe (Christian Bale).

The New World is basically the life story of Pocahontas as we know it. We don’t learn anything about her before John Smith and his crew came in contact with her, but it doesn’t matter that much. We see her through the eyes of Smith, and to him she is a mysterious young beauty who is also his savior. He is the captain of a ship of pilgrims coming from England. When he is caught by the “Naturals,” he is going to be killed. Pocahontas feels sorry for him and lays down her life to save his. He then stays with them for months while learning their ways and falling for the little girl who saved his life.

Time passes. Smith goes back to his company. His commander (Christopher Plummer) goes back to England for supplies. Winter hits. People die. Enter John Rolfe. Sort of.

Of course, that’s a really short, simplified version of what happens, but I don’t want to give away too much.

Terrence Malick is, for a guy who has only made four films in a 33 year career, very accomplished at the cinema of loneliness. From the loneliness of Nebraska and Kansas in the 50s to the loneliness of turn of the century north Texas to the loneliness of the Asian Front in WWII, he has excelled in showing how alone people can be even if they are surrounded by others. It’s no different for the pre-colonial Americans in The New World. As they are dying in the brutal winter of the north-east, he throws them into a world that has no concern for them. And Smith can find no solace in the beauty that surrounds him. Only in the arms of Pocahontas.

After Pocahontas meets John Rolfe, the loneliness only gets worse. The two are in a nearly loveless marriage while Smith is wandering England without his love.

Like all of Malick’s films, this one is beautifully shot. Each shot is like a painting and is obviously meticulously crafted. I don’t know if he will ever surpass Days Of Heaven in sheer beauty, but he keeps on trying and his attempts don’t disappoint. Of course there are long, pondering shots of trees and landscape, but that’s Malick. If you’re not into that sort of thing, you should probably steer clear of all of his films. But that would be doing yourself a disservice. All of his films should be seen at least once by anyone with even a passing interest in film.

With Plummer and Bale on board, I expected to see at least two great performances, but Farrel and Kilcher are just as good. In fact, Kilcher is a standout. For a 15 year old girl to give this good of a performance you have to wonder how much of it is Malick. It will be interesting to see if she is as good in her next projects. She’s been nominated for a few awards, so someone thinks she has a future. We’ll see.

How does The New World stack up to Malick’s other films? (Because you know we were all comparing.) I’ve liked all of them so far, but I still put Badlands on top. But, as much as I liked The Thin Red Line, I would have to say that this one is much better. The story is more prominent and well told. It was very hard for me to follow The Thin Red Line because so many of the people looked alike and we seemed to be following all of them at the same time and they were all equally important. The New World, however, is basically the story of three people. Everyone else is very good window-dressing. They help tell the story instead of being the story. We get a very good look at what it was like to be in pre-colonial America and we get interesting characters to latch onto. And that’s the most important part of filmmaking.

Definitely check this movie out if you have any interest in the filmmaker or the subject matter. It’s worth every minute. I’ll be in line to see the director’s cut when it comes out.