The New World, a 2006 effort by Terrence Malick, is the next installment in our little series. It chronicles the arrival of the settlers at Jamestown, their battle to survive their first winter, and what comes from all of this. But, more importantly, it does not tell the story solely from the settlers’ point of view. There is even more emphasis put on what this tiny settlement did to the natives.
Malick’s vision is brought to life by a group of incredible actors. Colin Farrell leads the cast as the emotionally distraught John Smith. And this is a far cry from the John Smith seen in Disney’s Pocahontas. This guy is rough, confused, and does not ever burst into song. Basically, he is a perfect example of the roles Farrell is best in. Farrell is supported by a young woman making her movie debut as Pocahontas. Q’Orianka Kilcher is absolutely perfect as the young woman who captures the heart of not only every character she comes in contact with, but of the audience as well. Her portrayal of a Pocahontas confused by her own heart, and curious of the unknown, is flawless.
Backing up those two we have the combined genius of Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer, and Wes Studi, any one of which could get me to a movie. Basically, we have a star-studded cast. Which is reason number one for loving this movie.
The movie that Malick gives us is beautiful. It is not the wacky hijinks version of the story Disney gave us, nor is it the action packed thriller version that some idiot has probably made at some point. It is the dream version. This is the version of the story you would see if you fell asleep in the woods in Virginia after hearing someone tell you this story.
Malick has a gift for using landscape and people’s thoughts to tell the story. The Thin Red Line is another example of this part of his genius. The New World took that idea and ran with it. We see why the natives wanted to protect what they had. Anyone would. It was absolutely beautiful. The land was beautiful, the people were beautiful, their way of life was beautiful. You’d be a fool not to fight for that. But how could they fight against guns and cannons? What were they supposed to do when the invaders burned down their fields and houses so that they could plant tobacco there? I don’t know. You have to wonder what our nation would be like if the settlers had adapted to the native way of life. What would we look like if they had combined the two cultures instead of trying to destroy the one that was there first?
That’s reasons two and three right there. It is an incredibly gorgeous movie, and I have to sit and think about it every time I watch it.
In my opinion this movie is perfect. There is nothing wrong with it. I saw it three times in theaters and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it since I got the dvd. And the only thing I ever hear anyone say bad about it, and I hear this quite a bit, is that its boring. Well, don’t watch it thinking its going to be the Live Free or Die Hard version of the Pocahontas story. And don’t go thinking that Grandmother Willow is going to show up and start singing. Watch it thinking that its going to be slow, but most beautiful things are if you think about it.
If you can watch it like that then I urge you to watch for a couple of scenes that are my absolute favorites. Colin Farrell living and learning the native culture, Wes Studi exploring a manicured English garden, and Q’Orianka Kilcher running free after her character’s illness and death. If that just ruined the movie for you, you’re stupid and you should go read a history book, after you watch The New World.
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Before we end, I would like to answer Joey’s question from the last entry. The He-Man cartoon happened because of the Conan movie. Then the He-Man movie happened because of the success of the cartoon. So I guess Conan The Barbarian is responsible for both.
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