118) The New World
Director: Terrence Malik
Year: 2005
Plot Summary: In the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, after the English colonization of North America, Captain John Smith leaves the Jamestown fort to explore another area and trade with the Indians, but he is captured. The princess Pocahontas asks her father to spare Captain Smith's life and they fall in love for each other.
Terrence Malik's last release came and went in the space of a month leaving a trail of hostile reviews and baffled audiences behind it. On IMDB it stands at a measly 6.9 rating and only 60% of its reviews were positive according to Rotten Tomatoes. However, for every person who found the film tedious, unfocussed and monotonous, there is someone who will hysterically praise the movie like it's a gift sent from another world. On my second viewing, I have become one of these people.The New World isn't a movie that you should stream online or watch on a laptop screen while you're doing work, it's one that is best experienced in a dark room on a big screen with the sound turned up loud. This way you can appreciate every perfectly photographed shot, every droplet of water, insect whirr and birdcall in the sound production, every muted sigh and flicker of emotion from the characters. Before long, you will find yourself immersed in the picture in a way that no other film has ever done. Pausing the movie to go to the toilet or get a drink won't cross your mind and, if you are forced to, finding yourself that you are still in the real world will leave you dizzy and disorientated.
What's the story though? Who cares? Malick hasn't set out to capture your interest with a typical three-act narrative in The New World. It is more like a poem that draws you in through its beauty, its themes and its emotional connotations. Therefore, the acclaimed director never attempts to give you rich and three-dimensional characters either. Instead of putting the viewer inside their heads though, The New World puts you inside their hearts. You will watch in wonder as Smith explores the newly discovered land of America, feel touched when he meets Pocahontas and will weep tears when their love is torn apart.
As modern as the movie seems The New World also has an ancient quality, at times feeling like a relic from the past which Malik has dug up and remastered. Within its beauty the filmmaking is organic, pure, natural and simple using handheld shots, real locations and natural light and not once using foley sound, big rigs, crane shots or a flicker of CGI. This traditional quality is further enforced by the use of Wagner's music as opposed to some modern score. Even in the few moments that James Horner's music is used it feels like a continuation of the classical legend's work.
The New World isn't your usual romance story. With little story or character development it's one that many have wrote off as a boring and one-dimensional. But, to me, it's not something that you watch, it's something that happens to you and overwhelms you. Beautiful, poetic and jaw-dropping.
5/5
3 comments:
I loved it the first time I saw it, sort of faded from memory. It's a difficult film to motivate myself to put on. Maybe I'll watch it in the shop today when I go to work.
Where do you work? :)
I thought it was good when I first put it on, but I watched it on my laptop in university so I didn't really get into it as much as I did this second time.
Sure I mentioned, but I work at a Movie Shop. Ended up forgetting to put it on, hehe.
Yeah, my first was a laptop viewing too. Big TV now, I'll watch it sooner rather than later.
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