Beautifully boring

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2007)

The image is astounding, the audience suddenly feels like discovering Virginia in the 17th century, or feels like what it has been for Pocahontas to see London. So that is great, and if I had to judge only the atmosphere and the cinematography, I would give the movie a 10/10. But a movie is also a story. Here, the story is a true story (I don't know - and don't care - how much it is accurate to the original story), and the script tells it to us in a quite "arty" way : while being told about the fort's discipline, John Smith thinks about Pocahontas (so we here about the fort and watch the girl running in the bushes). Lots of "off voice", with a quite tired tone, it is poetic, poetic and boring like hell. I had to end watching the DVD using the fast-forward button : I couldn't stand any more. Thus, I learned a lot, I mean that for the first time, what I watched seemed really true to me, not like if a time machine sended a camcorder back in 1600 but even better : it stills is cinema, with a beautiful image I told that already.