Possibly the best film ever made...

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2005)

The New World is an extraordinary film. From start to finish, it gives the audience pleasure, sadness, drama, and adventure. 'This is a Terrence Malick film' one must keep in mind before viewing this picture. But however, this isn't very much the Malick you see in Badlands. It's the Malick you see in The Thin Red Line and partly Days of Heaven. Another thing about this film is that it's not a history lesson, nor a documentary; it's a piece of film that makes you an eyewitness to the encounter with the Englishmen and the Powhatan tribe that took place on the James River, Virginia in 1607. The dialogue is limited, and there are plenty of Voice overs, but once an audience sees the film, you realize that it doesn't need dialogue, because it's very self explanatory. That is also a Malick trait, but the trait of all traits is the cinematography is incredible. The acting is at its best as well.
The direction is very similar to what an audience has seen in Days of Heaven, a story about 2 lovers leaving Chicago to work in a farm owned by a rich and dying farmer. It is on the other hand similar to The Thin Red Line, a story about the battle of the Guadalcanal in World War II. The first shot in The New World is a shot of a river, with Pocahontas (who is never called Pocahontas in the film) saying a prayer. After the opening credits, we have the river which pans to a shot of the 3 ships arriving. Next we have the Natives running up to the ships. Like The Thin Red Line, it starts out from the Natives point of view, and shows a ship coming through the ocean. Like all 3 of his films, transitions during scenes are either blackouts or a shot of a piece of nature. When Capt. John Smith is giving orders to everyone in the settlement, the scene ends with a shot of a river at night. As in Days of Heaven, it isn't shot with any blue skies.
This film is not a history lesson. The audience is just an eyewitness to the events in Virginia 1607. The lack of dialogue makes you watch the events as they go on. Another thing Malick did is separate myth from reality. Most of the Pocahontas tale is mainly myth. A lot is unknown, and Terry makes his version come to screen in a way that you are watching. Not all the known story matches the film, for that reason. At the end sequence at the Rolfe Plantations in England, it cuts back to Tommocco, an Indian sent back to England with Pocahontas by Chief Powhatan walking in the streets of London in his native clothes. He does not speak, and no one else is there, just him alone. It represents the loneliness he feels, being away from his native land. Also the way Malick makes the Natives look like a magical tribe that have been living in their land for a very long time can refer to his other films that use that same quality, and it also contributes to the historical drama, which is that the English took that away from the Natives.
There is hardly dialogue in the film. The film speaks for itself. When he wants you to feel the characters emotion, he will use a voice over. This way, at least I feel, that you get a stronger feeling of the characters personal perspective on the situation. There are pans of the fields that Pocahontas and John Rolfe are working in towards the end of the film. The same things happen in Days of Heaven. These ones in The New World sometimes go into a pan of the fort too, during what was called The Starving Time. It will do a silent pan around showing the settlers dying and working in poor condition which definitely speaks for itself. The battle sequence with the Natives and Settlers show the same beautiful silence. There aren't voice overs in the battle sequence, but the feeling and reactions from the camera should get the sense of what is going on and why the scene is set like that.
The acting is at its best too. Q'orianka Kilcher, new actress who plays Pocahontas, was just beautiful in this portraying Pocahontas. The name Pocahontas means, 'playful one' which is who she really was. It's also how the actress portrayed her character. She really created emotion, and at the same time she could be playful and play around with John Smith and John Rolfe as well. Christian Bale was surprisingly in it a lot, considering how much Plummer and Studi were cut. The story did revolve around Pocahontas and the 2 men that were drawn between her though, so it did focus on Kilcher, Bale, and Farrell. Bale was excellent, one of the best performances I have personally seen. Farrell was also great. Most may not like him in general or think he was not right for this role. Malick did select him though because his character was perfectly fit for his specific personality which is an ambitious and adventurous man. Overall, this acting was incredible as was this film.