Massively pretentious impressionist film.

Rating: 5/10 (24 June 2013)

You know that a film is going to be massively pretentious when it is all water and river shots from the first note of Wagner's Ring to the time you would expect the Jamesmaidens to burst into song. However, I was warned by my daughter, who had seen it a few years ago, and did not expect any rousing action. It was a dream, rather, told with the jumpiness, incoherence, and lack of explication you get in one. Most of the dialog was buried by music, except for the voice overs.
The show bragged about authenticity, but the Powhatan tribe historically mostly went about nude, according to the contemporary drawings of them. Even a Pre-Raphaelite-appearing painting of Pocahontas saving John Smith has a breast exposed by an off the shoulder outfit.
But, for authenticity, I was at the Jamestown archaeological site just last week. The movie had it nailed.
Malick did what he did exceedingly well, communicating with light, facial expressions, motion, requiring the viewer to give himself over to the atmosphere he wrought. The actors carried out his design beautifully. I let him work his will on me. Somewhat. I should like to also see a good drama of the history, perhaps the equivalent of the first season of the "Rome" series.
He who needs a plot and dialog will be bored out of his skull. This show ain't nothing' like what he was expecting, and he will have wasted the rental fee. He would be like an Academy judge dealing with the Impressionist painters' submissions in Paris a century ago.