Details
Movie Description
In 1607, three ships sailed across the Atlantic to the shores of what became known as Jamestown, Virginia. The arrival of these Europeans changed forever the history of the native people already living peacefully in this fertile country. Writer-director Terrence Malick, who has been waiting 25 years to tell this story, finally gets his chance in the breathtaking epic THE NEW WORLD. Colin Farrell stars as Captain John Smith, a British mutineer facing execution who finds a new purpose--and a dangerous love--in this new land. Smith falls for the young and beautiful Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher, in her first major role), daughter of the Indian chief Powhatan (August Schellenberg), laying the groundwork for trouble ahead. The Indians are both fascinated and frightened of the Europeans, not sure whether they are friend or foe. Suspicion, desire, greed, lust, and power soon combine to make them mortal enemies. Using natural lighting, carefully reconstructed forts (James Fort) and villages (Werowocomoco), realistic weaponry, fabulous makeup and costumes, and even a re-creation of the Algonquin language, Malick has made a majestic historical drama that transports viewers back to early 17th century America. Supplemented by James Horner's (BRAVEHEART, TITANIC) lush, percussion-based score and Emmanuel Lubezki's gorgeous photography--especially of night scenes on the river--THE NEW WORLD is a compelling examination of the very beginning of American history, told by a master filmmaker who has made just three previous, highly regarded films (BADLANDS, DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE) since 1973.
Industry Reviews
"[Malick] neither strives for verisimilitude nor spectacle but for an alchemic blend of both -- life in all its power as it is experienced by sentient, sensitive beings."
Los Angeles Times - Carina Chocano (12/23/2005)
"Many have tried, but none can match Malick's touch for shuffling a deck of elegiac images and fanning out the hand to express what speech cannot." -- Grade: A-
Entertainment Weekly - Lisa Schwarzbaum (01/27/2006)
"Shot almost entirely in natural light with a moving camera, the film is at once lively and meditative....It mixes carefully researched ethnographic detail with wildly romantic imagining."
Sight and Sound - Amy Taubin (02/01/2006)
"[R]apturously beautiful....The entire meaning of the film is conveyed in a single sublime edit that joins a shot of the grubby settlement as it looks from outside its walls -- and framed inside an open door -- with its mirror image."
New York Times - Manohla Dargis (02/03/2006)
5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's a brilliantly executed blend of western, historical drama and anthropological reconstruction....Lubezki's luscious camerawork, the stirring use of Wagner and the unusually direct but expressive acting succeed in working their wondrous magic."
Uncut - Geoff Andrew (03/01/2006)
4 stars out of 4 -- "Malick has turned familiar textbook history into vivid historical fiction and brilliant cinema, and THE NEW WORLD is arguably his best film -- accessible, poetic, complex, and profoundly spiritual."
Premiere - Howard Karren (06/01/2006)
"[The DVD] exhibits a hazy, slightly desaturated picture that nicely complements the atmospheric tale of exploration and star-crossed lovers....James Horner's beautiful score is mixed well."
Widescreen Review - Widescreen Review Staff (05/01/2006)
3 stars out of 5 -- "Malick sweeps us dreamily through the Virginian countryside..."
Total Film - Jonathan Dean (07/01/2006)
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