Malick's film presents a great challenge with a greater reward

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2006)

As an avid Malick fan, I wholeheartedly recommend all of Malick's films, including his newest, "The New World." I would never tell the average moviegoer that he would enjoy the film, but I hope he would at least see it.
"The New World" begins as an epic poem, with an invocation of the muse. We are immediately immersed in Malick's vision of paradise in unadulterated Virginia. The land and its people are captured beautifully by Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography. Lubezki captures the ripples of the water with the sun's rays shining through the trees while James Horner's ethereal score completes the image of the promised land soon to be invaded by the English settlers. But Malick's film would never simplify the colonization of Virginia as an invasion by man. "The New World" explores man's desire for paradise and his inability to create it or obtain it.
To say that the story in the film is slow is a mighty understatement. But in its defense, it never feigns to be a plot-driven film. It is entirely imagery-driven. While the love story between Pocahontas stalls at points and while there are long stretches of little to no dialog, each frame remains for a specific purpose. Not a moment of the 150 minute runtime is wasted. The story itself takes a back seat to the images presented and they complete the love story. Farrell and newcomer Kilcher convey the love between their characters as immaculate and beautiful. Malick instills what could be a dubious relationship with the notion that this love is not between a man and a woman, but between humanity and the peace which it desires most.
The peaceful cinematography and the love story both abruptly end when the socially accepted version of the Smith-Pocahontas fable halts and her real story continues. There is a subtle shift in the way this portion of the film is shot. There is no more beauty to the land, the film, or to Pocahontas, for that matter. The film seems as awkward as Pocahontas does in her English dress. The colonists have stayed in Jamestown, attempting to live in paradise without adhering to its terms. Soon, Pocahontas marries Rolfe and Rolfe takes her to England. Malick continues to film without his usual style as he shows England without the warm tones of Virginia. But again, Malick's film would never simplify Virginia and England with a good-bad dichotomy.
England is man's attempt to create its own paradise. Malick shoots London and the surrounding countryside's beauty with a style different from that which he shoots Virginia. England is entirely geometrical. The trees are groomed into perfect cones and the rectangular buildings tower in their own unnatural beauty. Shown in stark comparison is the lone Powhatan among the trimmed grass and gardens who has come with Pocahontas to experience man's attempt at paradise for himself.
We are finally given reprieve from the awkward cinematography when Pocahontas achieves her happiness with Rolfe. The love story ends tragically yet happily and Malick's camera follows her happiness with one final vision of peace and beauty. The closing shots are stunning beyond words and would leave even the most skeptical of film-goers absolutely breathless.