A good looking and disjointed film

Rating: 3/10 (22 April 2007)

My first clue that I was settling in for a dog of a historical drama was when Malick chose Mozart's Piano Concerto #23 for the romantic theme during scenes of John Smith and Pocahontas frolicking together. I never thought going into this film that the events would be portrayed in similar fashion to Disney's "Pocahontas". The fact that that music continued to be used as a device to tell us, "Oh, they're feeling amorous again!" cheapened the entire effect for me. Never mind that the music was composed a century and a half later and is beautiful in its own right, it was inappropriate and about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Hats off to a director that can make Mozart feel like that!
The second major annoyance with the film was the mumbling of the characters and overuse of the voice-over. Midway through the movie, I no longer cared what they thought. How many times did Pocahontas ask, "Who is he?". Enough already.
I knew going in that the English characters would have British accents, which is also historically inaccurate. The clipped speech patterns the Brits are known for now were not heard in during the years of King James or even with Elizabeth's reign. Malick could have traveled to nearby Tangier Island, Va., where generations have been isolated for many years, to hear a closer approximation of what the colonists would have sounded like. And then there was the matter of John Smith's prominent tattoo! I don't think so!
Overall, I was greatly disappointed in this overly affected and confusing interpretation of the Jamestown settlement.