Well done though historically inaccurate...

Rating: 8/10 (4 September 2006)

Terrence Malick, the director, once again creates a film of extraordinary beauty.
Yes his films tend to be slower than most Hollywood films. In this case, though, I think the slowness is well suited to what the director is trying to convey.
It's my opinion that Malick wanted to bring our 21st century mindsets back to the pacing of life in the early 1600s. Things took time. And in that sense,, he has succeeded.
The film unfolds like chapters in a novel. Keeping that analogy, I think it would help the average movie goer to keep this in mind before watching the film. Expectations are always key, so if one goes into this film expecting a slow paced film, I think the viewer will then be able to relax and let the mood of the film do its job.
Collin Farrell was fine in his role as Captain John Smith. Unlike his unfortunate portrayal of Alexander in the movie of the same name, here Farrell blends well into the time frame.
Q'Orianka Kilcher playing Pocahontas was truly wonderful and handled here role with a wisdom beyond her years.
Christian Bale, as usual gives a thoroughly professional performance though his role is small and only in the last forty minutes of the movie or so.
Christpher Plummer, also, while in a small role, gives his typical professional job.
Malick is famous for his gorgeous cinematography and he doesn't disappoint his fans one bit with this film.
I enjoyed the movie quite a lot. I knew going into it, that Malick doesn't always rely solely on narrative structure but uses mood ambiance, the sense of time passing, etc. to help tell his story.
That being said, be aware that liberties were taken with historical accuracy. The biggest liberty being the age of Pocahontas.
Pocahontas would have been about 10-12 years old when she encountered Captain Smith. Captain Smith's age was accurately portrayed as he would have been around 27 years old, approximately the same age as Mr. Farrell.
Historians say that Captain Smith's account of his being saved by Pocahontas were probably embellishments by Captain Smith made many years later to give his story of his time in the new world some excitement.
Further, writings by Captain Smith the first winter after his time in the new world, make no mention of the story of Pocahontas saving his life but rather that he was treated as an honored guest of the Powhantan people.
So it is a bit unfortunate that Mr Malick in all his efforts to create as accurate a movie as possible, should, for his own devices, fabricate the central story of his movie.
For accuracy's sake, he would have been better served to show Pocahontas as the child she was in the beginning of the movie and instead of focusing on her relationship with Captain Smith, focus on her relationship with John Rolfe, who was after all, more central to her life than Captain Smith was.