AdGuzman00
Definitely an experience, I was reluctant to watch this film because of all of the backlash even knowing that I have a soft spot for Malick's pieces, however I loved its pacing, the daring decisions he usually takes storywise, the bold camera work. And in that, The New World proved to be no different than his other works.For me, the first part of the story was shot in the best way posible, allowing us as audience to feel immerse in every shot, the camera work manages to let us feel included in the characters' points of view. Lubezki showed us the level of craftsmanship he has in himself. Q'orianka Kilcher achieved an engaging and powerful portrayal, now I cannot imagine this film without her. Lastly, the use of music was exquisite as well.Basically, the only issue I have is not with the film itself, but with the source material, I cannot trust the conquistadores' point of view to be accurate and as tender in real life, but we'll never know, but for me is just common sense, colonialism was never respectful, nor gentle, nor even thoughtful in its approach.
professorskridlov
Terrence Malik is a very strange director. That statement can be taken two ways, both of them applicable to this clunky effort. From the start the film utilises similar techniques and ideas found in "The Thin Red Line" - in fact ever since "Badlands". We hear the thoughts of characters as they reflect on the paradoxes of life'n'lurve'n'conflict. There's a lot of Noble Savage guff going on here and more than a hint of "Last of the Mohicans" - not in a Good Way. I'm reluctant to call any of his movies pretentious because at his best no director manages better to incorporate into his films profound ideas about what it is to be a human being. The Thin Red Line is something of a masterpiece in this respect. It amazes me that he can have so misjudged the pace of the film. All that said the young lead actress is quite magnificent in the role, almost - almost - making it worth enduring the excruciating longueurs which drag the film down over and over again. There are some irritatingly implausible quirks about the way the dialogue is handled too. The perennially difficult issue of how to deal with two languages where neither group can speak or understand the other is incompetently executed. "Slow" in itself seldom bothers me if the content works, but this is a really tedious clunker. I lost interest just over 90 minutes in.
vikade1
If we take the time to look at it, really see it. The wind blows ever so, the river runs ever onward, ever the waves ride on the ocean. Snakes slither in the sea, baby turtles run up our bodies. If we let them. Does this not have the power to change us? The land is a way of life, the people just come and go. There once was a time, where people lived. They lived so. What did they talk about? What did they dream of? That time is gone, those people are gone. What they talked of is not important. The land is. It's eternal. Malick understands this. Often, his camera will break away from a conversation to look at the grass sighing in the wind. Most of his shots of people are of them walking in the grass, touching them, feeling them, feeling other people, talking by touch. People love each other, they sit together in the grass, stare at each other, smile a lot, touch each other's bodies. They hardly ever talk. Love is an exploration, of the other's body, of the other's mind. Silence is the best language to communicate. "What else is life but being near you? Do they suspect? Oh, to be given to you; you to me." Such passion opens up unknown vistas. Of the mind. Of the soul, if that exists. It's a New World for Pocahontas.
lois-lane33
Collin Farrell plays a guy in the 17th century that used the F word when he gets angry. Didn't everybody? I kinda doubt it. Anyhoo-this film also casts a woman from Germany as Pocahontas which I found kinda surprising given that there definitely are more than one good looking First Nations actresses. Had a few good moments-when Collin Farrell's character is "rewarded" for his good behaviour & tasked with finding the northwest passage-which in those days was basically a death sentence. Things go badly and things go worse in the New World. Made me think of the story about 100 members of the Rowanoke settlement that vanished except for the word Croaton carved into a tree-which pointed a finger at the Croaton First Nations which dwelled in that area also. No mention of that in the script. Lots of 'naturals' leaping about and vowing to drive the white men into the sea. Where they like that? Nobody knows for sure. Plenty of virgin scenery in this film and the relationship that developed between Pocahontas & Captain Smith is all this really seems to be about. It's not really billed as a love story though. Maybe it depends where you are in terms of how you interpret the movie. I can see Europeans liking it-as in probably the 'difference of it' (or because Collin Farrell was in it) For me -since I live in North America & have spent a fair amount of time in northern areas where First Nations people are often the dominant social group, I found the film lacking. And it made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
AD
