A slow and contemplative meditation

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2015)

For my second Terrence Malick film (and there aren't too many), I have chosen THE NEW WORLD. It's basically the story of Pocahontas, starting from the settlement of Jamestown when she met John Smith to her later life when she married John Rolfe and moved to England. Of course, being that this is Terrence Malick, the minutiae of historical details aren't really adhered to and the story is told in rather broad strokes, making sure to hit all of the important historical moments but generally being a slower and more contemplative meditation on the themes that its director is interested in. While I was perfectly fine with the abstract story in THE TREE OF LIFE, I felt that it didn't quite work as well here. Still, Malick has crafted a stunningly beautiful film that explores themes of discovery, conflict, the search for happiness, and making the most out of difficult situations. What I thought worked very well was a restrained use of voice-over that served as internal monologues. Absent a lot of dialogue, this provided an essential window into the various characters. I also loved the numerous shots of natural beauty which were expertly captured by Malick's frequent cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski. As far as acting is concerned, everyone gave a really good performance, although the cast was subordinate to the imagery. The score was also excellent, and in particular I liked the simple piano theme that played when John Smith and Pocahontas were on screen together. However, despite all of this really positive stuff I do think that the film dragged a bit in places and I found my mind wandering somewhat. I suppose it would have helped if this wasn't a story based in historical fact. That way I wouldn't have had expectations about how it should have been presented. Honestly, I would have a preferred a more straightforward telling, but what I got wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. Overall, this is a technically superb film that has some interesting observations on life, but it did subvert my expectations a little bit.