As Good As Film-making Gets

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2006)

Under the current regime of Hollywood film-making, where extreme closeups, staccato editing and short attention spans represent the norm, director Terrence Malick is a throwback to a more sublime era.
With "The New World" - just his fourth feature release in a career spanning more than 40 years - Malick puts his finely-honed craft on full display, offering a deliberate pacing not seen in many years. For those unaccustomed to such cinematic devices, the small investment of attention required here is richly rewarded.
Although the film's time frame spans the historic first 10 years of England's first successful North American colony - the Jamestown settlement, located on what is today's Yorktown peninsula in Virginia - the film is more about the sudden clash of cultures and people thrown together by fate and ambition than it is a mere history lesson.
This is not to say, however, that Malick plays fast-and-loose with the actual history of the subject, as is another common custom among epic historical filmmakers. In fact, much of what we know of the Jamestown story as it is recorded in surviving original documentation is represented here, with only a few minor details having been changed or compressed for the purpose of brevity, clarity or plot cohesiveness. Also, the period detail represented here is immaculate, including everything from a full-scale recreation of the original Jamestown fort (or as best it could be, given the limited documentation of the original settlement), to the authentically recreated 17th Century clothing and language.
Another impressive feature of "The New World" is its depiction of the native Powhatan peoples whom the English first encounter. Great pains were obviously taken to bring this extinct culture back to vibrant life in its dwellings, dress - and language, with the native actors speaking only Algonquin, a form of which the original Powhatans would likely have spoken.
And for those looking for the now familiar tale of Pocahontas and John Smith as it relates to Jamestown, this is probably the most accurate portrayal of that story ever depicted in a feature film - but the film as a whole offers so much more than just that well-worn storyline.
Those familiar with Malick's earlier films such as "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line" will instantly recognize his brilliant, visceral style in "The New World," complete with flowing water, ripples of windswept natural grasses and the ambient sounds of nature included within.
Both figuratively and literally, Malick takes the viewer back in time with "The New World," offering an example of classic film-making in its most artistic form, as well as a visual postcard from a long-lost era.