Review

Review Date: 22-January-06
Spoiler Rating: High
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The New World (2005)

Even if Terrence Malick wanted to be a player in Tinseltown, I can't imagine that he would be accepted. His movies (what few have emerged over a 35-year career) are so uncommonly languid, like a cinematic sigh in the midst of a brown study. He occasionally addresses violence, as in "The Thin Red Line," but heat and movement don't define his work. Contemplation and contrast do, and both are used to good effect in "The New World."

As middle-school history staple John Smith, Colin Farrell dominates the marquee, but "A New World" belongs to teenage newcomer Q'Orianka Kilcher as the Indian remembered today as Pocahontas. (Speaking of sighing, I can imagine the exhalation of relief that went up when Malick and his casting director found her.) The inexhaustible beauty of the actress and her character infuses the entire picture and, along with Malick's ruminative pace, allows it to become a tribute to a way of life more than a history lesson.

The time and circumstance are, of course, important. It's the early 1600s when Smith and a band of settlers land in Virginia to stake their claim on the "new Eden" and pave the way for England's advancement across the continent. The native inhabitants are friendly at first, confident that the white man's stay will be a short one. And indeed this appears likely after cold, sickness, and starvation set in, along with the inevitable sequel of mutiny.

What changes the situation is Smith's departure to find a city mentioned by the Indians, with which the settlers hope to trade. After losing his guides, he is captured by a local tribe and spared a death sentence by the intervention of the chief's youngest daughter, a child of light and laughter who is treasured by her father and all who know her. For months Smith lives among the natives and learns to share their ways, including their peaceful integration with nature and their love of the girl who saved his life. The romance is unusually chaste and achieves an otherworldly, almost spiritual quality; as Pocahontas justifiably claims later on, they are married in the sight of the Earth and each other.

Yet even those who skipped most of junior high must know that the trailblazers who took North America were not the kind to sit around admiring grass and devoting themselves to true love. The European's ingrained need to forge ahead and overcome compels even so receptive a man as Smith to leave Virginia behind, and with it his vision of paradise. Heartbroken and exiled from her native world, Pocahontas exists awkwardly (but with surprising honor) among the conquerors who now show no sign of leaving. Her capacity for wonder never ceases, but her smile pales until another foreigner (Christian Bale) offers her a "real" marriage with affectionate fidelity.

Unlike many historical tales, the paths of "The New World" come together tidily at the end, although they lead to a great sadness. In their final meeting, Smith admits to his forsaken soulmate that he let his chance of happiness go by, and at this point the comment really hits home. We have witnessed the moment when Americans past and future might have forged something truly new, but didn't. Malick and his leading lady successfully show that by destroying something beautiful because it stood in the way, modern man lost something vital to himself.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.