The New World: A new experience

Rating: 6/10 (11 May 2008)

I really don't know what to make of this movie. Lot of mixed feelings I had after watching this and I guess the movie was like that too - a mixture where the story/narrative couldn't blend completely with the place / world where it is based in. I mean, I didn't find anything extraordinary in the love story of Captain Smith and Pocahontas. Neither did the introduction of John Rolfe (Christian Bale's character) make this any more interesting. I felt it predictable enough. But the settings / backdrops of the story and manner in which the director uses the characters' body language to express their deepest thoughts and feelings make this film an unique experience.
To say that TNW is a visual treat is just gross I feel. Each scene was just so pristine. Terrence just unobtrusively painted every scene with his camera and I had to sit back and take in everything that was shown. I just felt it within me, allowing the movie to take me along at its own pace. Standing in the grass swaying to the gentle winds, staring at the still river, may be bending down and touching its waters, feeling the raindrops on my face when actually its Pocahontas's contented face getting wet and the drops just flowing across her cheeks, looking above at the open sky, at the sunrise, at the sunset - I felt I was there, part of it all. Every body movement of the lead actors, however minuscule, added so much more meaning to a scene. Naturally, dialogues were just few and far between. And thoughts were expressed as voice-overs in the background, so gently said that it was like as though the actors were whispering to themselves. And that's exactly the way it should be.
I really wish that the story had been more interesting - the love story was so familiar; whether actually the natives despised and felt threatened by the arrival of the English settlers was not shown convincingly enough. And this actually pulled down the film. But I don't regret watching it at all. The journey was indeed an unforgettable experience. Hence 7/10 from me.