An Epic Romance

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2007)

In the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, along the English colonization of North America, Captain John Smith (Collin Farrell) leaves the Jamestown fort to explore another area and trade with the Indians, but he is captured. The princess Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher) asks her father to spare Captain Smith's life and they fall in love for each other. When he returns to the colony, he becomes the president of Jamestown and finds people starving, but Pocahontas brings supplies, saves them and falls in disgrace with her people. When the Indians realize that the English will not leave their country, they attack and after a bloody battle, the English trade Pocahontas and lodge her in the fort to protect their families, and Captain Smith loses his position because he does not agree with the arrangement. With the return of Captain Newport (Christopher Plummer), Captain Smith is promoted and sent back to England, and he asks a friend to tell Pocahontas that he drowned along the trip. Pocahontas is civilized and baptized by the English and John Rolfe (Christian Bale) proposes and marries her. Many years later, she hears that Captain Smith is alive, and she has to decide if she keeps her marriage or follows her heart.
"The New World" is an epic romance with a wonderful cinematography and soundtrack, but the low paced story is too cold in its narrative. Terrence Malick, as usual, builds the complex characters with many existential problems, leaving the passion and flame of love aside. I liked this beautiful adult version of "Pocahontas", but I did not feel any emotion in the end of the story. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil: "O Novo Mundo" ("The New World")