History Through Film Review

Rating: 6/10 (30 August 2018)

I a first watching this movie in class to learn not only the history behind it, but also the history of film making. One of the main reasons we chose this movie is because of the director Terrence Malick. The movie begins with the English colonists coming to the Americas. Pocahontas meets John Smith and they both fall in love with each other. Lots of stuff happens. John Smith lives with Native
Americans for a while and learns some of their way later to return to Jamestown to be elected leader. When the settlers learn about his relationship, they turn against him. This also happens to Pocahontas, however she was banished from her family and village. John Smith dies. She begins to live life with the settlements and meets John Ralph. Ralph falls in love and asks her to marry him. They end up married in England only to have John Smith still be alive and Pocahontas still in love with him. They get back together and live happily ever after until she dies which isn't portrayed in the movie. The film making was beautiful. Malick uses certain camera angles and camera paths to add effect to the movie. The lack of fighting along with John Smith not being dead make me question the historical accuracy. We're taught in school that the Natives Americans and the settlers didn't get along as much as they were portrayed in the movie to do so. The way that Malick did his thing reminds me of movies of videos featuring lots of nature on its own. There were close ups of the river or somebody swimming which made you feel in the scene. I liked how the music added effect to the feeling. I did not like how slow it seemed to go and how much it seemed like it dragged some parts out. Overall I liked the movie. It was a beautiful example of what great film making looks like. It told a great story that seemed for the most part pretty accurate.