A Tender, Poetic Fourth Masterpiece from Terrence Malick

Rating: 9/10 (11 January 2008)

There are some directors out there just begging for heated discussions among film fans. Godard, Lynch, Kubrick, all have been made the subject of tussles in the chatrooms. Any director who challenges convention is likely to be hailed among some crowds and despised among others.
Terrence Malick is one of the more interesting directors to divide people. His work breaks convention in a way no one else could've imagined. Almost like a fusion between film, painting, and poetry, movies like Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line blur the line between epic masterwork and narrative hodge-podge. Many words have been used to describe these films, especially "pretentious." Yet, I would never dream of calling a man who merely communicates the poetry and philosophy of nature such a word. In fact, I would argue his films merely tell the truth.
Nevertheless, many are flat out bored by his films, and The New World may just be the most "boring" of them all. There's even less plot here than Days of Heaven, but to say there's no story is preposterous. Malick is a storyteller of a different color, creating a clash between the inner thoughts and outer appearance of his characters to capture two different worlds, just as he did in The Thin Red Line; the reality, and the truth.
The biggest mistake marketers made in advertising this film was to make it out as a love story in the vein of Titanic. In truth, this "love story" isn't between the two leads, but rather between the coming together of two cultures. When the English arrive at their landing, Smith sees this as a rebirth for him. He's been condemned to death for mutiny, and only the last minute mercy of Captain Newport (Christopher Plummer) allows him a second chance. Arriving at America, they come in contact with a local tribe, but fall out of their favor when an Indian is killed for stealing an ax. Smith is sent to lead an expedition to find the king of the local tribes, but gets separated from his group and captured by this king. Only the last minute intervention from Pocahontas saves John Smith from execution.
We see John Smith practically annexed into the culture. He makes a change while staying with this tribe, interacting with the people and making friends with the warriors. By the end of this film, both Pocahontas and John Smith will have been transformed by their interactions with the opposing cultures. Whereas their associates choose to battle the other side, Smith and Pocahontas learn to embrace the other side, to the extent where they drift apart.
Pocahontas's change is more radical than Smith's. Once Smith has left her life, she finds a new romance with John Rolfe (played by that talented, versatile actor Christian Bale) and becomes a regular English housewife. When she and John Smith next meet, they've drifted so far apart from their former selves that they simply can't connect anymore.
The New World's editing is going to be difficult for some people to swallow. So many snippets that not relating to the plot are thrown in, some might dismiss it as the result of over-indulgence. Rather, what these clips do is provide a dream logic that brings the viewers attention away from what's concrete and toward the more metaphysical elements of the story. The ponds, the grass, the sky, Malick finds the beauty in nature. As always, he's left his previous coworkers behind to create a totally new look and sound. Emmanuel Lubezki and James Horner both deliver lush, emotive work. Horner has never written a better score, nor had it used so well (his work is often tragically overused, drowning its original intent). I cannot explain why this is transcendent, brilliant direction. You must be willing to give yourself over to it. You may be able to do that, you may not.
All things considered, no other film is like The New World. That may be good or bad, depending on who you are. Nevertheless, I thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for something daring, original, and insightful. It's certainly not the first Malick film I'd lend to any of my friends, but if they showed an appreciation for this style of film-making, they would surely fall in love with this film.