There's a longer version coming out on DVD

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2006)

I love Terrence Malick's three previous films, and I liked much of "The New World" but it felt jumbled somehow to me. As if the editing had been rushed and the film had not quite gelled. Since my faith in the director's talent and integrity is immense, I decided to see it again to try to 'get' whatever I was missing from a first viewing. So I attended a screening today at which producer Sarah Green spoke, and the audience was informed that the version that was released in December for Academy Award consideration, has since been replaced by a version 15 minutes shorter (which was not shown). She assured us we "wouldn't notice" the changes. Then we were informed that Malick has already produced a three hour cut he intends to release on DVD. It's a sad state of affairs when one of the world's greatest directors can't release his presumably preferred version of a film to theaters - it has to be relegated to the home video market. In the trailer now being shown on the movie's website there seemed to be scenes and dialog which are not in the version I saw.
UPDATE: October 18, 2008 The 172 minute version has been released. I just watched it and as I had hoped, it's a masterpiece.