A Visual Poem

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2006)

I have seen all Malick's film and it is still too early to say whether it is his best movie, it is certainly a contender.
The film worked its magic on me. I sat back and fell into Malick's milieu. The imagery was stunning. But it was far more than a pretty film. The courtship scene was protracted, but all the more effective because of it. His elliptical narrative and his preoccupation with touch coupled with the characters short flashbacks worked wonderfully. The subtext of the film (and most of his films to be honest) about civilised man's destructive approach to the world around him, was there but he didn't hit the viewer over the head with it - a la Oliver Stone.
After seeing the movie I felt a mixture emotions. Firstly I felt invigorated by having seen an artist working at the peak of his powers bring a vision to life. He appeared to have complete control over the film and New Line seem to have given him a carte blanche. with it. However I was aware that this kind of film - with Hollywood's dwindling profits will be the first to go. The studios have new problems to encounter - see Soderbergh's 'Bubble' - and films that have artistic value but don't maximise profits and demographics won't, I feel, get made. The New World is not a popcorn movie. Yet the amount of criticism levelled against it because it doesn't conform to today's dominant idiom within film-making (the quick-cut, rock soundtrack, no-brainer), seems quite pathetic. It seems mediocrity is the king, deified to such a degree that anything that doesn't fall within its parameters must be ridiculed. Yes the film's NARRATIVE is slow, because it isn't a narrative-based film. It is a cinematic poem. And like a poem it employs, at times, repetition and mood rather than story.
If you think Armageddon was great, there is nothing for you here. Leave it (and me) alone. For the rest of us The New World is art of the highest order. Watch. Enjoy.