Beautiful film making . . . but not for everyone

Rating: 8/10 (22 January 2006)

Halfway through Terence Malick's The New World, the Powhatan princess referred to as Matoaka (never, thankfully, by the misnomer Pocahontas) arrives at the encampment of the English settlers in the dead of night, to warn the then-president, John Smith (played here by Colin Farrel) that her father, Chief Powhatan (August Schellenberg), is preparing to attack them. She asks him, simply , to "Come away". After having seen what we've seen already, we know what she is asking him to do. And we are begging him to do it. But he can't. It's simply too late for him.
Whether or not any of the events depicted in Malick's New World actually happened in real life as they are depicted in this film is beside the point. I personally have read a fair amount of historical and anthropological lit on early colonial Virginia, and sure, I'm a little annoyed that Malick opted to portray Smith's near-death experience at the hands of Powhatan, and his fabled (and doubtlessly fabricated) romance with his favorite daughter, when neither of these things actually happened in real life. Malick isn't as interested in historical accuracy as he is in historical truth (and yes, there is a difference). The land the English arrived in was an unspoiled eden, at least by what they certainly knew. Thirty years later, it was ruined, and the Powhatans were driven from their land. We see this happen as it truly did: eventually. No one is burdened with historical foreshadowing here. When the Indians first sight the ships, they couldn't possibly know that this means the end for them, and the beginning for Us. And they don't. It's that authentic. Instead, they, and we, feel excitement.
In a breathtaking opening sequence scored by James Horner with ample help from Wagner, we are given what has to be a glimpse through some time portal, into the actual moments when Algonquin natives first sighted the three Ships of the Virginia Company Charter. Sound and sight combine beautifully (the film is filmed using natural light, as far as I know) to render a indescribably gorgeous montage, unlike anything I've ever seen in the cinema. It MUST have been like that. When the English go exploring soon after they land and encounter a party of Powhatan, Malick gives us a strange, disturbing, and yet joyous vision of this first encounter. The natives sniff and touch the aliens while the English stand stock still, obviously bewildered and terrified. Jesus, Malick. How did you do it?
Malick has the natives, and especially Pocahontas (brillaint, beautiful, and passionate Q'orianka Kilcher) move and speak in the manner of the animals that inhabit the region. The warriors strut and caw like male birds, and Pocahontas dances through the fields like a leaping doe. These people do not move,speak, or act at all like Western men and women. We really believe that they have existed, removed from our civilization, for time out of mind. They are other, and it is beautiful to see.
Malick contrasts the beauty and harmony of the Powhatan capital with the desolate grimness of Jamestown Fort, which Smith returns to after a sojourn with the natives. Unlike the idyllic world of the Algonquin, the settlers have proved themselves to be arrogant, greedy, and cruel. In the end, Powhatan decides he must act for the good of his people and plans to exterminate the English. Pocahontas, blinded by her love for Smith, goes to warn HIM. Not the colonists. She begs him to come away, back with her to a better place than any he can ever know with the Europeans. He refuses, because he cannot bring himself to give up the men he has been elected to lead to death. It is a stoic choice, but a fatal one, for both Pocahontas and her people. The Powhatan attack and are brutally thwarted (among the casualties is Pocahontas' beloved brother). Pocahontas is banished to the Patawomeck tribe, whose chief sells her to the English for a copper kettle. Told Smith is dead, she wanders about the fort desolate, and is slowly anglicized, eventually marrying a kind new settler, John Rolfe (an endearing Christian Bale) and bearing him a son.
Malick doesn't so much tell us all this through conventional narrative as SHOW us. There is no point followed by point here. He lets it happen, and through achingly beautiful imagery, shows us how it FEELS. Yes, if you're in the wrong mood, the continuous shots of green canopies and flocks of birds blooming across the sky may be a bit much. Some parts may be confusing, especially toward the end. And the script seems, at times, to be non-existent, which is usually alright if you have the patience, but is trying at points. Sometimes, we wish they would SAY more, though this is usually made up for by impressive non-verbal acting by all parties. Sticklers for complete historical accuracy will be disappointed, but they should be advised to keep an open mind: the truth is essentially here. There was a land once, populated sparsely by a people who lived in harmony with the earth, if not always with each other. It was taken from them slowly but surely, and turned into something completely unrecognizable. Kilcher's Matoaka is Malick's chosen personification of America Unspoiled, once leaping about nimbly as one with the tall grass, then corseted, roughly clothed, and presented as a trophy to a foreign people. She opened her arms willingly and without guile to help a stranger in need. She was repaid with despair and grief, and was remade in someone else's image, to suit someone Else's' ways. It's all here, and beautiful , joyous, and terrible to watch. We wish we had come away with Pocahontas. Highly recommended for those with patience and an interest.