Days of Heaven
Tags: tragedy, boring, murder, atmospheric

Plot synopsis:
Bill (Richard Gere), his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams) and his young teen sister Linda (Linda Manz) are forced to flee Chicago when Bill accidentally kills the foreman (Stuart Margolin) at the steel mill at which he works. They hop a train and eventually arrive at a wheat farm in the Texas panhandle. Bill secures work for them as sackers by lying to the foreman (Robert J. Wilke) about prior experience. Bill and Abby pretend to be brother and sister to avoid suspicion.Although Bill squabbles with the foreman who considers his performance subpar, the three enjoy the work. The wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard) begins to fall in love with Abby and asks her to stay with him after the harvest. Bill is jealous, but when he overhears the doctor tell the farmer that he has only a few months to live, he encourages Abby to accept his proposal. After the other itinerant workers leave, the farmer and Abby are married. The foreman is suspicious and considers Bill and Abby to be con artists, leading the farmer to send him away.The farmer, Abby, Bill and Linda spend an idyllic year on the farm, playing in the river and fields and having many picnics. The farmer's health recovers quickly, and he no longer seems near death. He treats Bill like a brother but notices that Bill has begun to grow restless and irritable. Bill realizes that Abby is beginning to fall in love with the farmer. However, she is actually torn between her love for the two men. During a visit by a wayward Italian circus troupe, the farmer begins to suspect that Bill and Abby are lovers. When Abby tells Bill this, he decides to leave the farm with the circus troup.With Bill gone, Abby, the farmer and Linda form a stable family for nearly a year. But as the itinerant farmers return, so does Bill. He tells Abby that he doesn't blame her for deciding to stay with the farmer and that he will leave them alone. But the farmer, watching them from afar, misinterprets their final embrace and realizes the true nature of Bill and Abby's relationship. But before he can confront them, locusts arrive at the farm. Bill tries to help with the efforts to burn the pests out, but the farmer attacks him. In his rage, the farmer sets his fields on fire. Bill races off into the night, and the farmer, nearly insane, ties Abby to a column on the porch.The next morning, while surveying the damage, the farmer finds Bill. When he threatens Bill with a gun, Bill stabs him and mortally wounds him. Bill takes Abby and Linda away in the farmer's car, which they later sell in order to purchase a boat. They travel down river but a posse, led by the foreman, pursues them. One morning, the police catch up to the fugitive trio. Bill is shot down trying to escape.Abby has inherited the farmer's fortune. She deposits Linda in the kind of boarding school/dance academy that she herself had dreamed of as a child, then leaves on a train with American soldiers going off the fight in World War I. An older girl (Jackie Shultis) who Linda had befriended that first fall on the farm finds her in the boarding school. Together they run away.-----
Note to author of below: opening credits, narrators and concepts such as "scenes" are not part of a synopsis. It also does not include every single detail, such as one character helping another with a cigarette, or use dialog in lieu of narrative description.
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The films opening credits portray old photos of turn of the century America with a musical theme that recurs throughout the film, Carnival of the Animals The Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saens. Outside Chicago, Bill (Richard Gere) is shown firing up the furnace at a steel mill. He gets in a fight with the steel mill foreman (Stuart Margolin) and accidentally kills him. He runs away. His kid sister Linda (Linda Manz), begins narrating the story. She begins by recounting how things were that have not happened in the movie yet the days of heaven. Bill is helping his lover Abby, (Brooke Adams) with a cigarette as he explains that things will change for them eventually they are down on their luck. The three of them hop a train to Texas, where they sit with dozens of others on the roofs of the trains boxcars. Linda explains that she met someone once who told her that someday the world will go up in flames and the good people will avoid it, but for the bad people, God don't even hear you talkin'. Everyone gets off the train and Bill quickly negotiates a job working on a wheat field for $3 per day as a sacker. He lies about his experience as a "sacker" to get the job.All three get jobs as laborers on the vast wheat field of a farmer (Sam Shepard). Linda makes a friend (Jackie Shultis) in the wheat field. The farmer checks the quality of the wheat in the field to see if its ready for harvest. Prayers are said for a good harvest. Scenes of people using farming equipment follow. Linda narrates that the farmer is falling for Abby for some intangible reason. Bill has told everyone that Abby is his sister, and gets in a fight with a field hand who suggests otherwise. Bill and Abby share a moment in the shade of a wagon. Linda is shown plucking a pheasant. There are more scenes of the harvest. The farmer is shown asking questions of one of his workers about Abby. The farm foreman (Robert J. Wilke) comes by inspecting Bill and Abbys work and docks them $3 for wasting wheat when making bushels. Bill complains but the foreman threatens to fire him and Bill backs down. Bill is concerned about Abbys hands which are sore and rough from the work and wants to find the doctor. The men swim in a pond after the days work is done.Bill sneaks up behind the doctors wagon and steals some ointment for Abbys hands. While he behind the wagon he overhears the doctor explaining that the farmer has about a year to live. Linda narrates that the farmer knew he was going to die, and that people live only once so they should have it nice. The farmer finally speaks with Abby. She explains she is from Chicago. Linda roasts a peacock over a spit, as Bill tells her a joke: "I saved your life today. I killed a shit-eating dog. I'm always lookin' out for you." Apparently a joke by comedian Redd Fox - acknowledged in the end credits in the Thanks section. Bill and Abby have a talk in a haystack. Bill explains they will eventually go to New York and this is only temporary. The harvest continues on. Linda explains if people didnt work they were shipped right out they didnt need you. They could always find someone else. The farmers accountant explains its a 6-figure harvest, his best ever. The farmer gets up and takes a look at Abby through his telescope. There are more scenes of the harvest.The farmer comes up to Abby and offers her to stay instead of going on up north. She excuses herself quickly without answering to go talk to her brother. Bill and Abby splash around in a river. Bill begins to scheme. He suggests that she tell the farmer she will stay. There is a night scene of the harvest, the very end of it. Linda asks Bill if they are going to stay and he explains its up to Abby. Linda has a conversation with her friend about a worker who she was going with who abandoned her. Linda continues to narrate about Bill getting tired of living like the rest of them, like pigs. Bill figured some people need more than they got, and others got more than they need. It was a matter of getting everyone together. A man dances on a wooden plank to a tune played by harmonica. Bill and Abby continue their discussion about staying. A night time celebration with a bonfire and music occurs. Abby tells the farmer she can stay but shes got to keep her brother and sister with her. Lindas friend says good bye and many people leave on a train similar to the way they arrived. Linda questions Abby about why she wants to stay and she explains this isnt so bad to the way she had to live earlier, wrapping cigars, never seeing the light of day. The foreman questions Linda about what they did in Chicago before. Bill explains to the farmer a half-story about how he worked at the mill in Chicago. The farmer tells Abby he loves her. Bill begins to scheme.He suggests she marry him (since he is about to die). She is reluctant. The farmer and Abby get married along the river. The foreman is a joyless best man. The farmer and Abby take off of on their honeymoon. When they get back Linda explains they all never had it so good. The rich got it figured out. All four of them have a playful meal on a gazebo. They play makeshift golf. Bill sneaks Abby out of the house one night for some play in the river and tells her he never wanted to fall in love with her. They sneak in a bit late, after the farmer has begun calling for her. Life goes on. The foreman tells the farmer he thinks they are a couple of con-artists. The farmer takes offense and they have a falling out. The foreman quits and leaves and as he drives away, he stops to tell Bill and Abby he knows what they are doing and warns them that boy is like a son to me. The farmer senses some distance from Abby. A shot of a newspaper shows that president Wilson is on a whistlestop tour. They all go out to watch his train go by. Linda narrates that the farmer wasnt getting sicker as fast as they planned. Maybe the doctor gave him some medicine. Bill and the farmer go hunting for pheasant. The farmer remarks that Bill seems jumpy. Right during their conversation a Fokker tri-plane and a Sopwith camel come into a view as a flying circus lands right in their field. just as things were about to blow says Linda. The circus brings entertainment. Bill kisses Abby one night at the gazebo but the farmer sees it. He confronts Abby later about this strange behavior with her brother. She denies anything unusual but remarks to Bill that the farmer seems more paranoid. Bill is now angry that Abby seems to be in love with the farmer. Bill who is in a bit of a huff, gets a lift from the flying circus to take care of some business. The farmer and Abby are now alone.There are loving scenes between Abby and the farmer. Linda narrates that the farmer taught her the keys on the piano, the parts of a globe. Life continues. The following spring comes. The wheat begins to ripen. Bill comes back on a motorcycle and sees Abby dancing on the porch. Later, Abby apologizes to Bill. Bill explains he regrets not knowing what he had with her, and pushing her into this plot. Bill kisses Abby on his way to leave, and the farmer sees him from up on the roof with his weathervane. He seems a bit sickened.A close-up of a two locusts on some lettuce in the kitchen is a portent of a problem. They are shown bothering the birds. Things evolve rapidly. Abby begins swatting locusts all over the house. They are shown all over the wheat. A red storm flag is hoisted, and a warning siren is sounded, and the workers pile into the field to get rid of the swarm by any means possible. The farmer out in the smoking fields is suspicious of Bill and swings his lantern at him starting a fire. The fire spreads and starts to burn the entire field. Bill and Abby are silhouetted against the fire and she says, "He knows".The hands desperately try to put the fire out but it burns everything. The farmer aggressively intimidates Abby up in the bedroom, throws her down and gets a gun out of his desk. He ties her hands together and calls her a liar. The next day, the farmer is riding through his burnt out fields looking for Bill and finds him fixing his motorcycle. The farmer aims a gun at Bill but bill stabs him with a leather punch. The foreman finds the dead Sam Shepard. The three of them flee.They head down river in a boat. Linda narrates that no one is perfect, youve just got half devil and half angel in you. She explains that Abby will lead a good life from now on, she blamed it all on herself. Linda talks about all the things they see on the boat ride. In parallel action, the foreman begins to track them down.Wild turkeys gobble in the forest, where Bill, Abby, and Linda have camped. Bill walks under some trees, and notices police officers at their ferry boat at the river, presumably looking for him. They spot him and come chasing after him with dogs and horses. He gets back to the tent and grabs a shotgun. He tells them to keep down and then tries to run away as he is pursued. Eventually, he makes a run along the shore line and ends up in a gunfight. He is shot and killed by one of the pursuers on horseback. In her grief, Abby sobs over Bills body as detached people on the shoreline look on.The next scene is Linda in a dancing class. Abby has enrolled her in a dance academy. We dont know exactly how much time has passed. She tells Linda shell be all right, turn around and go inside. Abby walks to the train station through a small town. Young men are boarding a train to participate in World War I which the U.S. has just gotten involved in. A band plays a tune to bid the soldiers goodbye as Abby boards the train with the soldiers.The next morning, Linda escapes from the dance academy. She runs into her friend from the fields who has a new boyfriend. He's in the Army. Maybe he'll get killed or something. I don't know. Anyway, he said I'm pretty. They race away and chat at the railroad tracks, and then walk down the rails towards an uncertain future. Linda narrates This girl, she didn't know where she was goin' or what she was goin' to do. She didn't have no money on her. Maybe she'd meet up with a character. I was hopin' things would work out for her. She was a good friend of mine.

Review: But this film has moments, especially in the finale, that are surprisingly close to that of "Badlands" and this is the film where Malick fully mastered his approach of lush, visual poetry told at a languid pace that never seems boring, since you're fully within the film;s grasp.Pauline Kael said in her review that "the film is an empty Christmas tree: you can hang all your dumb metaphors on it." And Charles Taylor, always following Kael's lead (even from beyond the grave), said of Malick's two 1970s films, "Next to the work of Altman, Scorsese, Coppola, De Palma and Mazursky from that period, they're pallid jokes."What never fails to get me furious is when someone viciously attacks a director, like Malick, for being self-indulgent.
You just have half-angel and half-devil in you." This line delivered by Linda Manz in Terrence Malick's gorgeous masterpiece, 'Days of Heaven,' sums up everything you need to know about life on earth.
Also, in a method that Robert Bresson used, by distancing us emotionally, it leaves us to add our own emotions and imaginations in the story, heightening the power of the film, as long as you are willing not to be spoon-fed what to think.Terrence Malick is a filmmaker who came out of nowhere with his talents already fulfilled, and he has not stopped since.
He had one of the greatest debuts ever, in the mesmerizing and haunting 'Badlands,' the deepest and most philosophical 'The Thin Red Line,' which is likely the greatest contemporary war film (as suggested by the late Gene Siskel)and the stunningly beautiful 'The New World.' His films are deep and meaningful, and to get into the underlying symbolism and themes of them here would be pointless, and better saved for a long essay.Days of Heaven is one of the greatest, and most beautiful films ever made.
Cinema is at a low point recently, but as long as Terrence Malick is still making films, we still have some heavenly art to look forward to.PS - Hopefully someone like Criterion will create a new DVD, as the current one has some soundtrack problems.
Days of Heaven is, in fact, what its highest praisers want you to believe: awe-inspiring cinema, sometimes even mind-blowing in what can be filmed and brought forth in a beautiful, seamless mold of narrative and poetry, photographed with an eye for the prairie and fields like very few others and for the period detail.
This is child-actor Linda Manz, her first role in what is a relatively small career, and she voices, in grungy but fine vocal, from afar at times even as she's one of the principle players.She's the kid sister of Bill (Richard Gere, a very good if not extraordinary performance compared to others), a factory worker who kills a man by accident and runs off with his girlfriend Abby (Brooke Adams), and the three of them end up working for a farmer (Sam Shephard), and soon there's a love triangle formed wrapped around an elaborate con of Bill and Abby being brother and sister.
Here's a crucial part of Malick's success in translating the theme of remembrance and feeling both the moment and the mood of the whole period and characters in the film (sometimes combined): just listen to the theme of the movie, used later in movie trailers and commercials, as it reckons a nostalgic tinge for something that one can't firmly grasp but is felt deeply and without really fully knowing the whole scope.
Surely even a mediocre effort in this area would drastically improve the overall film.The movie does showcase young Richard Gere, Sam Shephard, and Brooke Adams, but they might have well been Ken and Barbie dolls, strutted on stage for their physical beauty since Malick demanded so little of them.
The actual film, while very effective of capturing the beauty of nature (a staple of Malick movies as I later found out) was not all that great.
I was then told by a friend that I should give Malick another chance, and either Days of Heaven or Thin Red Line would be a good idea for my second film.
When the fields erupt into flame, quite literally from the broiling emotions of the film's conflicted characters, the viewer is confronted by the most intense manifestation of Hell-on- Earth since the burning village in Bondarchuk's 'War and Peace (1967).' But, interestingly, Malick here regresses on his own allegory: Judgement Day isn't the end, but rather it comes and goes.
This man, Malick, stood twenty years out of business because he had to be, afterwards, after such a beautiful movie he couldn't and shouldn't return with any other thing shorter than this.Days Of Heaven is absolutely perfect cinema, the plot is not important, Malick simply wants to fill your senses and he achieves it.I haven't had the chance to watch it in a theatre, I was four years old at the time, I've watched it on television, and I understood immediately, this man is a hero for building up such a magnificent film in the United States, in Hollywood.A true director builds a universe of his own, with its own "time flow" and dreams and that is what Malick achieved with this film, magic, sacral art.
Brooke Adams, Sam Sheppard and Richard Gere are all excellent, but the real stars of this movie are Director Terrence Malick and Cinematographer Nestor Almendros.
Now don't get me wrong, i love a good film and after watching The Thin Red Line (and loving it) I was eager to track down Terrence Malicks two earlier films, and, having just watched Days of Heaven, my enthusiasm to see Badlands has virtually disappeared.I have noted much rave about the beautiful photography, but i saw this film on a terribly old vhs tape which made it look pretty awful.
The Texas Panhandle (a bloc of 26 counties in the north) at the time of the Wilson presidency is the location of Days Of Heaven, a film of grandeur which loosely follows an itinerant family who set to work on a rich man's estate.The film never felt to me like a traditional story, the name of one of the main characters is never even revealed.
Not perhaps entirely original in conception, the film feels influenced by Visconti's The Leopard / Il Gattopardo (hunting with dogs sequence) and I am told recreates wholly footage from Murnau's City Girl and Powell & Pressburger's A Canterbury Tale.Richard "the blink" Gere seems well chosen as male lead, in that an edgy, at times bewildered, poseur (which may just be who he is), comes off as the right kind of character for the movie: not imposing, but part of the stream of life that is the real protagonist.
The story itself I would say, although moving, could have been substituted by many others, it felt more like a patch in a quilt, of a step in the "inexorable march of progress".As with any pageant, there's a hint of the surreal, planes from the Great War in Europe somehow turn up on the other side of the world as if Malick wasn't content with the breadth of scope the film was already providing.I liked how matter-of-fact the love story in the movie was shown, the naturalistic treatment of elective affinities as opposed to any overblown melodrama or sense of fate.The movie is generally treated as philosophically profound, that's arguable, but it definitely is populist in its appeal, when Linda says, "Nobody's perfect.
Since I couldn't remember The Thin Red Line very well (I should watch it for the second time), I couldn't evaluate 'Terrence Malick cinema' generally, but other than The Thin Red Line, for me his best film so far is The New World, a great movie, but his debut, Badlands and his this film, Days of Heaven are problematic, in my opinion.
The film has a story, yes, a couple pretends to be brother and sister and start to work in a farm, but the lord falls in love with the woman, but the movie mostly consists of images and images and more images, no real plot, no enough words, no action (literally), no story development and no character development.
This is not an art house film absolutely, it is a drama, it is a crime drama, it has a story, it has a star, Richard Gere, but it is not a main stream movie either, that's the problem may be, I don't know.
There is an intriguing story in here (scarcely using a one-person voice-over) set in the twenties (?) about opportunism and greed rather than love, but what makes me want to see this film over and over again is the surpassing cinematography by Nestor Almendros (Goin' South, Places in the heart) which was also extensively discussed in the elaborate and memorable documentary 'Visions of light' (1992) and was probably heavily influenced by Malick, who wanted to use only natural light (nothing extra) and films a lot of animals as usual.
Richard Gere's lead character is on the run in pre 20's America with his "sisters" one of whom is actually his lover,the other a child who may be his or her kin.The bogus relationship leads to the trio working in the wheatfields at harvest time for a lonely rich man who lives in a large remote house under apparent sentace of death from a mystery illness.He falls for the older "sister" and takes all three of them into his house.
The second movie of Terrence Malick's filmography, Days of Heaven depicts a dreadfully boring love triangle on a Texas farm.
The score is also beautiful and of haunting quality, and again as is the case with Malick the visuals are breathtaking particularly in the cinematography and scenery.Also I don't think that Malick's direction has been as poetic as it has been here, that's not saying much though he is a very poetic and ambitious director, or that lead actor Richard Gere has been any better than he is in Days of Heaven.
Terrence Malick's masterpiece, Days of Heaven, is from 1978 and stars Richard Gere, Sam Shepard, Brooke Adams, and Linda Manz.People have written here about the cinematography - there's nothing I can add to it - certainly one of the most gorgeous films ever done, absolutely staggering.The story takes place in 1916.
Malick felt differently, and it's his movie, I just didn't think her gifts showed on screen.This is a must-see film - haunting and atmospheric and incredibly beautiful..
It's not a long movie, but it requires patience, as do all of Malick's films.The characters and the actors playing them left little impression on me.
After viewing "Days of Heaven" for the third time in 20 years, the film touches me the same way as did the works of the three Soviet filmmakers mentioned above.Technically the movie can be appreciated by each of the three elements that build the final compound product.
Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven is one of the most beautiful movies ever made.
On top of the great cinematography, visual set pieces, and subtlety, Malick's decision to make most of the scenes of dialogue short helped to make this film feel poetic and mysterious at times.
Posing as brother and sister, to avoid people talking about them, it isn't long before Abby catches the farmer's eye, and Bill sees an opportunity to escape their poverty stricken lives by getting her to marry the farmer.The beauty of days of Heaven doesn't come from the relatively simple plot though.
Maybe it was the way the wind blew through her hair." The casual narration and elegance of the plot makes it timeless.Only the 2nd film directed by Terrence Malick before taking a 20 year hiatus from making movies (Also escaping the public eye, becoming an almost mythological film God in the process), Days of Heaven was the film in which he would use to create his signature voice overs, shots of nature and the style in his later films.
There are so many scenes in the movie that are just plain gorgeous, that the story doesn't even matter.If you are looking for a movie to just sit back and admire they beauty of the cinematography, then Days of Heaven is the perfect movie for you..
The music is haunting, and visually, like many of Malick's works, the film is unparalleled in its beauty, many of the shots involving natural light just before the sun sets.I give this film a perfect score and would recommend it to literally anyone.
Just when you think the film is about to end, you realize it has 30 more minutes left.All in all, Days of Heaven is beautiful to look at and I'm glad I watched it.
Typical Terrence Malick vehicle that is deeper than an ocean, filmed beautifully and acted brilliantly by three then-unknown actors (Richard Gere, Sam Shepard and Brooke Adams).
This under-appreciated genius is now in the point where he wants to be now: making his own movies, presenting something unique, different than anything people are used to see and most important, he has a public for such delightful and unusual experiences (and most important letting his work speaks for itself rather than appearing in interviews explaining them.) After the failure of "Days of Heaven" he disappeared from the radar for impressive 19 years until resurrect with power, sound and thunder in the epic war film "The Thin Red Line", great success it was and now his career hiatus are getting shorter (his next film might be in Cannes this year, following year of his deserved Palm D'Or win there).
In simple words "Days of Heaven" is about a farm laborer (Richard Gere) who convinces the love of his life (Brooke Adams) to pretend they're brother and sister, so she can marry their rich patron (Sam Shepard), who likes the girl, and so they can have a claim to his fortune.
Malick creates his "heaven" through the spectacular cinematography by Nestor Almendros and Haskell Weskler (but only Nestor got the Oscar, go figure), impressive imagery, the chilling music of Ennio Morricone ("Harvest" is a fantastic piece) that perfectly reflects the environment of endless fields, the sound of the wind, the union between men and nature (a constant in Malick's work), the child whispers recounting her memories from those days.
In my mind it wasn't the photography so much as the production and set design that make the scenes, and if you read about how the movie was made and the extremes that were taken to get certain effects, it's fascinating.So the movie looks good, yes, and it often recreates the mood of these apparently simple times, uneducated people working hard in the fields, lots of folksy celebrating and huddling in the fields in their dignified poverty, appealing clichés, well imagined.Yes, Days of Heaven is a Hallmark card come to life.
or was it so great?Richard Gere, Sam Shepard and Brooke Adams form a love triangle in Days of Heaven that isn't very interesting or very original.
Terence Malick's film combines the gorgeous cinematography of Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler and a terrific film score to tell a sketchy story that, despite a lot of dialog and backstory, is quite moving.Billy (Richard Gere) and his common-law wife Abby (Brooke Adams), who poses as his sister, leave Chicago and head west with Billy's real sister, Linda (Linda Manz).
Acting performances are solid, but are not really the focus of the film, as they are part of a small personal story placed into a big environmental canvas, which is effectively a love triangle consisting of hot headed Bill, who plays the sister of Linda Manz's character, and is solidly performed by a young Richard Gere, his secret girlfriend Abby, played by Brooke Adams, and The Farmer played by playwright Sam Shepard.
Days of Heaven(1978) Director Terrence Malicks epic story of a love triangle that takes place at the turn of the century in the wheat fields of the Texas Panhandle.Richard Gere(in perhaps his best performance), his girlfriend and sister take labor jobs picking wheat and soon the rich land owner,(played by Sam Shepard )falls in love with Geres girlfriend (Brooke Adams).
While watching Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven (1978) it made me think of another romance movie that i had seen earlier in the year and that movie was Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa (1985) because they have so much in common such as the genre and the beautiful landscapes in both pictures.
Unanimously hailed by cinema lovers around the world as one of the most beautiful films of all time, Days of Heaven is Terrence Malick's second feature after the fervently received Badlands and presents the director cementing his status as one of cinema's finest auteurs by experimenting with the visual outlook of the film in order to overwhelm the viewers' senses with its beauty, at which he magnificently succeeds.The plot concerns two lovers, Bill & Abby, disguised as siblings who travel to Texas Panhandle along with Bill's little sister (who's the narrator of the film) to harvest crops for a wealthy farmer.
Days of Heaven is a very beautiful and original film that I would watch several times!
Days of Heaven is a very beautiful and original film that I would watch several times!
Days of Heaven (1978) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Set in Texas 1916, this Terrance Malick drama centers on poor immigrant Bill (Richard Gere) who talks the woman he loves (Brooke Adams) into marrying a dying farm owner (Sam Shepard) so that they can enjoy his money once he dies.
Since the best parts are the cinematography, narration (by Linda Manz, in a New Yorker-like accent) and music, it's enjoyable to watch again and again, even though you know what will happen.The movie was clearly made by people who saw the artistic possibilities of film.
"Days of Heaven" is a very beautiful movie, full of poetry, like any other work by Malick.