Probably the Greatest Film Ever Made in the U.S.A.

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2010)

This is art at its highest level of achievement. Viewing such excellence makes me proud to be an American.
As evocative and yearning as the greatest poems, as sane as the most profound meditation, and as deep as the most sumptuous dream, "The New World" is an achingly beautiful film. It is the most sensual "no-nudity" film you will ever see. The eroticism here reveres life and reaches out lyrically and sacredly to all creation.
Christian Bale and Colin Farrell are powerfully present on-screen and give two of the best understated performances I've ever seen.
God has blessed Q'Orianka Kilcher with great beauty and talent; her smile could warm ice to melt in Antarctica, and she is freshly sensual in an unspoiled way as only a young woman can be. Kilcher is excellent at quietly portraying the nearly impossible journey Pocahontas traveled socially, emotionally and spiritually. That she navigated through the great joys and sorrows of her short life is a testament to her strength and humanity.
The cinematography is beautiful - with its natural setting, vivid colors and diffused lighting making objects and people almost palpable.
When I say this movie is probably the finest ever made in the U.S.A., I do not mean to imply in any way that it resembles the glut of sausage mill product being extruded out of Hollywood. There are no silly car chases, no phony battles between purely good and purely evil characters, and no bankrupt moralizing which panders to a fawning, lazy audience. Thank God!
A supreme achievement, "The New World" is the cinematic equivalent of swans drifting slowly on a lake as the fairest summer day of the year closes.
As soon as it became available on blu-ray, I purchased it, because I wanted something this transcendent to have a place in my home.
Thank you, Mr. Malick, for this peerless work of art!