The Way Things Were: If You Have The Patience, Malick Has The Goods

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2013)

I'd rather spend a few hours ambling in some isolated woods than the same time on a crowded city street; which might be the reason I admired the leisurely authenticity of much of this film, the immersion in a world lost the minute Europeans set out to add a new civilization.
Yes, the conflict is over-simplified, and the pace of the film is often glacial, but so many of the images are lucidly brilliant, the character of the Indian princess quietly compelling and the detailing of the invasive community persuasive. The story is familiar, but the ecological sidebars attached by director Malick are not, and, even though this is a long look at more than two hours, the look at the natural world and the contrasting methods with which man utilizes it can be fascinating. Malick makes his own mark and the motive does not appear to be commercial. And good for him.