The New World (2005)

Director: Terrence Malick
Venue: DVD
DVD Features: making of
Trailer

I initially started this review with a long paragraph about what a great director Ridley Scott is and how upset I was that he let me down with The New World. However, after visiting the ever so helpful website IMDB, I discover that it wasn’t Ridley Scott, but Terrence Malick who’d done such a horrible impression of Ridley Scott’s directing style.

The New World is a retelling of the Pocahontas story. Only, unlike the Disney version, this movie follows the tale beyond her relationship with John Smith. The film opens with Smith’s (Colin Farrell) arrival on the shores of the lush, fertile land of the Eastern coast. His shipmates begin to build shelter while he explores the neighboring terrain. Soon, he is discovered by the natives and spends time with the tribe learning to communicate. His primary tutor is the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas (Q’Orianka Kilcher), who he finds himself falling in love with. Eventually, her love for him leads her to be banished from her people and she comes to learn the ways of European life. But, this is no love story, as the trailer would lead you to believe. Smith gives up the settlement and the princess in exchange for his lust for adventure and goes off to explore another shore. Our heroine nearly looses her mind out of grief, but manages to cope with a new lifestyle. And so the story progresses, bringing Pocahontas overseas to the Old World. Despite the issues I had with the directing, the movie really does a good job of showing how strong of a character this woman was. Although it’s disjointed in some parts and seems terribly long, the story isn’t a bad at all.

Plot: 3 stars

All of the actors portraying Native Americans in The New World did excellent work. They really gave the sense of being closer to nature and wise in the ways of the land. It was nice to see that the culture wasn’t made a mockery of. Looking back on the movie, I think that Q’Orianka Kilcher did a fantastic job in her role as the princess of legend. It was only my dissatisfaction with some of the other elements that initially caused me to think her acting was poor. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’m as pleased with Farrell or Bale. Since Farrell was my main motivation for renting the movie, my expectations were not remotely met.

Acting: 3 stars

Anytime there are settlers and natives in a movie, there is bound to be some conflict. It’s the reflection of a shameful history. The main action sequence is the native attack on the settlement, which, in true Scott fashion, is a bit disjointed and chaotic. It’s bloody and people get taken out left and right, on both sides. The battle is difficult to follow and not particularly well choreographed. There is also some in-fighting between the settlers, which, although probably historically accurate, was a bit unsettling (hee hee).

Action: 1 star

The landscape of The New World is lush and green and beautiful. The sets were realistic and the whole movie felt very true to the time period and circumstances involved with the story. The costumes are well done also. Thankfully, there wasn’t any CGI. Several scenes are filmed in the same dicey fashion as the action sequence and it makes for terrible flow within the story. If you’ve seen Ridley Scott’s The Thin Red Line, it’s a similar style, but not nearly as effectively accomplished.

Visual: 2 ½ stars

The dialogue in The New World was, for lack of a good descriptive metaphor, really lame. In several scenes there are voice-overs of the characters thoughts, which, in itself, isn’t a bad method of storytelling, but work poorly in the film. For one thing, it doesn’t make any sense to have Pocahontas think in English before she has a good understanding of it spoken. For another, the inner thoughts of the two lead male characters don’t seem to have any place in the story. I think of it almost as a way of cheating. Instead of giving insight to these men using their actions or their speech, the audience is just told what they’re thinking. I don’t think that there was consistency in the characters’ accents either.

Dialogue: 1 star

I was really disappointed with the film overall. I was disappointed with John Smith for being such a slime ball. I kept wondering if the movie would ever end. Unless you are a hard core Pocahontas enthusiast, steer clear of The New World and explore another shore.

Alternate viewing choice: Dead Man
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Rotten Tomatoes review

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