How can history be soooo boring?

Rating: 4/10 (22 January 2006)

My guess is that most people have not heard of Terrence Malick. Outside of film enthusiasts and those people on the Ken Jennings side of the Trivial Pursuit knowledge belt, Malick is a name that isn't as well known as say a Scorsese or an M. Night. Hell, I would even venture that Michael Bay's name would illicit more recognition on the street than Mr. Malick. But hell, when you release only five films in thirty five years, what can we expect.
That's right. I'll write it again just in case the numbers got lost on you the first time. Five Films. Thirty-five years. Look it up. I'll wait.
Lanton Mills, Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and now, The New World. It's a simple resume, yet Malick is considered one of the more revered directors on the film circuit. Personally, I could never understand why and with the The New World now out in theatres, I am bewildered even further.
The New World is the story of Pocahontas - the version that isn't a Disney animated feature that had Mel Gibson prancing around in full Technicolor. Pocahontas is played by fairly newbee Q'Onraka Kilcher and follows her from when her tribe first meets the English settlers who land in Virginia in hopes of setting up a new colony. Pocahontas is particularly interested in John Smith (Colin Farrell) after she pleads for his life from her father  the leader of the tribe. Spared, John begins to teach her English and the two soon form a bond and a relationship that teases us for nearly 90 minutes before ending in an even more disappointing fashion.
In the hands of Michael Bay, we may have put up with the lack of chemistry between the two leads as he would have had it sandwiched in-between overblown violent confrontations between the tribe and the settlers. But in the hands of Malick we get Pocahontas running in the fields, John Smith staring off into nowhere and the occasional holding of hands that is less sensual than when I pet my neighbors cat.
The story does take an interesting turn in the final chapters when we are introduced to John Rolfe (Christian Bale who, interestingly enough, was the voice of a character in the 1995 Disney version). When Rolfe comes on the scene, Smith is long gone having faked his own death becausewell, who the hell really knows why. During her grieving, Pocahontas has become Westernized. She is no longer wearing native clothes, but rather corsets and shoes with heels. She has become fluent in the English language and accepts Rolfe as a husband even as she pines for the 'thought-as-dead' John Smith.
Their relationship blossoms as the two actually touch, kiss and even have a child together before Pocahontas learns that Smith is still alive and accepts a trip to England in an effort to confront her feelings.
We are probably past the two hour mark of the film now when the first thing that we actually give a damn about occurs, that being a meeting between Pocahontas and the long forgotten Smith where it will be revealed to the audience which one she will choose to fulfill her all too short life.
Well, the result is not surprising due to how we got there in the first place, and even though you won't leave the theatre whistling a happy tune, at least we got an ending true to the story rather that a Hollywood re-work.
But that in no way makes up for the meandering and lazing about we have to go through for 150 minutes before we get to the ending (which went on to an annoying musical score longer than the final chapter of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King last act). Too many of the audience's precious minutes are spent with camera shots of trees from the ground capturing the sunlight beaming down that I began to think that lying down in a forest all alone would be more rewarding than having to sit in an uncomfortably theatre chair and watch the same thing over and over and over again.
So my lack of understanding as to the genius of Terrence Malick continues. I will agree that the guy knows his cinematography  maybe to a fault. But if this guy only produces a film on the same frequency as Haley's Comet, he at least doesn't have to subject us to view of the sky looking for the damn thing.
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