A rewarding and humbling experience that the audience has to work for, rather than just sit back and watch.

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2006)

If you are going to see The New World, be prepared to have to pay close attention and keep an open mind. For the fist half an hour I was immensely frustrated, both with the rambling editing and seemingly out-of-place music, but once I realised that what I was seeing was not a standard dialogue and scene-driven drama, but an exploration of love, colonisation and nature at its best. Once you surrender yourself to the jagged style and that every second of a scene might be the last and that many of them don't last more than two shots, you appreciate every little detail and cherish every word. This is not a film, this is a private video of a part of history, and you are invited to follow these characters around, privy to their most intimate moments. Seeing such touchingly realistic acting, I was amazed at how staged and stylised scripts have become, and how this director seemed to say so much with so little words. I was so refreshed after seeing this movie that I felt like running off into the wilderness and escaping the constraints of society forever. So much is crammed in to every minute that it seemed a bit hap-hazard; sort of a two and a half hour long trailer. It is not so much a slow pace that bores many viewers (the man in front of me left halfway through) but the need for them to expect nothing more than what they are shown. In other words, do not expect to be handed character motives and themes on a plate. My only grievance is that on its second night in West Australian cinemas, it was only given three sessions a day, as opposed to Mission Impossible 3's twelve. A great film for devoted and hardworking audiences, but not for the faint-hearted.