In This Case, It Pays To Know In Advance

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2006)

Be prepared.
That's the best advice I could tell anyone who is thinking of watching this film. If you know what you are going to see, in this case, you'll be better off because if you are expecting an action-packed historical adventure story, you will be bitterly disappointed.
This is s-l-o-w moving, very slow, and fairly long at two hours and 15 minutes. If you realize that and don't care you might really enjoy this movie. If you enjoyed "The Girl With The Pearl Earring," you'll like this. Those two films are similar in beauty and pace.
If you love good visuals, which I do, then this is a DVD you want to view. Terrence Malick has directed only four movies in 33 years and all four are beautifully filmed, the best being the second: "Days Of Heaven." I would rank this second to that film in terms of beauty.
Cinematography-wise, there is a lot to like in The New World, especially the scenes on the water, which are magnificent. I wish there more of them. What we see is Jamestown, Va., in the year 1607, so this film is about as rural as you're ever going to see America.
It's the story of Pocahontas (although she's never called that in the movie) and her relationship to two men: John Smith (Colin Farrell) and John Rolfe (Christian Bale). Newcomer Q'Orianka Kilcher plays the Indian girl who is given the Christian name "Rebecca" later in the film and this woman is mesmerizing throughout. What an innocently-interesting face!
Of the three leads, the shocker is Farrell, who is very low-key, rarely says much and is almost strange in his behavior. If you've seen him as the obnoxious and profane public-relations sleaze in "Phone Booth," then picture the opposite, and that's him in this. Unfortunately, I had just watched "Phone Booth" last week so seeing Farrell in this role was bad timing for me. He just didn't fit! However, Kilcher and Bale are fantastic and people you really root for to wind up happy.
Without giving it away, the ending haunted me for a few days afterward. In the end, it is a powerful story, not just scene after scene of gorgeous photography (which it also is). There is more to this movie than the camera-work, but there is no doubt the cinematography is sitll the main attraction.