When a poet gets behind the camera

Rating: 7/10 (31 January 2006)

Ever see 'Bad Boys II'? This film is the precise opposite. A change of pace from the likes of Bruckheimer, et al., the only explosions are the firing of cannons and a few muskets. Malick films are not for everyone. Someone leaving the theater behind me said, sarcastically, 'well, that was exciting'... If you have never seen a Terence Malick film, be prepared for long, lingering shots of tree canopy, of hawks caught in flight, and minimal plot. All the touches that got Michael Cimino in trouble for 'Heaven's Gate' are the soul of a Terence Malick film. I guess the trick is to make so few films they are considered their own genre... Also be prepared for recognizable actors (John Savage, Wes Studi, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale) to play minor, even cameo roles (Jonathan Pryce is King James but with thirty seconds of screen time you'll only know this from the credits). Q'orianka Kilcher, the ingénue playing Pocahontas, represents the New World, and she gets most of the face time, beating out even Colin Farrell. The film stalls a bit when Kilcher is being trained as an English lady and goes back to England to be presented at court...but otherwise Malick succeeds in his revisionist/romantic look at Jamestown. A criticism: when Pocahontas is cast out of her tribe for helping the settlers (besides the first Thanksgiving, which is portrayed as a mercy flight, she sneaks them corn to plant), the English accept her like she's another guy in body armor and bad teeth. Being at the time one of the few females in camp, and being 'Natural', I don't believe her presence caused no ripples. Just an example of where Malick lets a popular legend overrun revisionism.