The New World Reviews

Delirious journey into the unknown

This movie is like no other I have seen for a long time.

Mesmerizing, dreamy, terrifying and silent all at once. The director tries to re-create how the new world might have felt before it became "America", doing away with most preconceptions of the early settlement history.

For most of the time, this means feeling overwhelmed by the sensual beauty and strangeness of the new place. There are many moments when the action goes into one direction, but the camera goes into another: for example, a fighting scene cut through with images of decaying wood.

It's all like a stream of consciousness that is often interrupted, giving a sense of disorientation, as if one was watching it in a delirious state.

Throughout, the movie reflects on language, speaking in strange tongues, and naming – among other things by refusing to speak the name "Pocahontas" even once, as any other less imaginative movie would have done.

An unforgettable movie.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Rapturous Cinema

Malick's 4th film is a slow-paced but breathtakingly beautiful piece about early European settlers in America. As with his other films; script and story development are secondary to his creation of film as a sensual experience where image and sound are everything -to the point where they become almost overwhelmingly beautiful.

Once again he takes great human drama and sets it against the beautiful chaos of nature; humanity becomes a part of nature in Malick's cinema.

Filled with symbolism and breathtaking imagery the film is a ravishing treat which builds hypnotically to a quiet but profound and almost spiritual ending.

Extremely satisfying, if not for all tastes, this is the director's 4th film and 4th masterpiece.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Hugely disappointing (nice cinematography, though)

I was very disappointed by this film - a shame as I had been looking forward to it for some time. The story is closely based on Captain Smith's own account of what happened in Jamestown (the first English settlement in America). Yet if you didn't know a little about Captain Smith, you wouldn't even realise that the girl is meant to be Pocahontas (her name is never mentioned), and it's only thanks to my limited knowledge of the real stoy that I know that Christian Bale (the best actor in the film by a mile) is meant to be John Rolfe.

But that is a minor matter. What jars with this is the ridiculous over-long beginning - takes forever to get going - and the holes in the plot. Originally this film was 20 minutes longer (believe it or not) - the director pulled the film a few days after release to re-edit it. Well, he did a bad job. Firstly, he could have edited a lot more. Secondly, the film jumps around in a very poor fashion, which is very annoying for the spectator.

Then there's the ridiculous interior monologues (mainly by Colin Farrell as Captain Smith and Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas/Rebecca - played by a 14-year old actress although in real life she was meant to be about 10 years old), which are so hammy and OTT that they should have ended up on the cutting floor. Furthermore, Colin Farrell should have given up his career as an explorer - he was never much good at it, as he often lost the trust of his men - and concentrated instead on Teaching English as a Foreign accent: in a few days (weeks? months?) Pocahontas begins to speak perfect English (and bizarrely, with not a trace of Oirish - strange that, since Colin's twang is all that she has heard). She is soon waxing lyrical about her mother, talking grammatically perfect English (even gets her 'who' and 'whom' right). The whole thing is utterly ludicrous.

Then there's the ridiculous storyline. Yes, we know that the area they decided to build their colony on was not the most hospitable, but since at the film's beginning they find oysters and loads of fish, quite why they are starving to death and eating one another's hands and leather belts after a few months defies logic. Why could they not hunt for food? It was ridiculous.

Then there's the ending - which I shan't spoil, but suffice it to say it's the most ridiculous ending I've seen in a long time. A complete waste of over two hours. Thank God it wasn't the 150 minute version...

Terrence Malick's Counterpart To The Thin Red Line, It's Beautiful, Visually Stunning, & Poetic

I went to go see this film at the movie theater and to anyone who wants to see it, see this movie there. The TV screen cannot caapture the beautiful cinematography and scope that the theater does. This movie was very good and a surprising second half brought me even more feelings toward this movie. The camera work in this movie is simply amazing in the new world and England locations and the score cannot be challenged because of its amazing composer James Horner(Titanic,Jumanji) who brings the charectors emotions thru on a even higher level than acting. Yes I was squirming in my seat a little bit but I could not tear my eyes away from the screen. The acting is amazing in this movie by both Colin Farrell and Christian Bale and the newcomer who plays Rebecca(I cant spell her name).This movie should definetly win best cinematography in the Acadamy Awards because it is so beautiful the way they shot this movie. Beware: this movie is a romance movie with a couple action sequences so don't go in looking for a action packed film, go in looking for a great, magnifecent peice of art(although I would want to see more action).

Heavy Going

Be prepared to be bored rigid

Apparently not for everyone

I can only assume that those writing scathing reviews on this page were misled into expecting Ridley Scott rather than Terrence Malick. As it happens I enjoyed Gladiator, but if that's your idea of an intelligent historical drama then you'll be baffled by The New World. Malick manages his editing like he's never seen a Hollywood film and as a result creates an experience far beyond the reach of mainstream cinema. Yes, the pacing is languid but this develops an intensity that's uttely absorbing. It's dealing with some of the same emotional material as Days of Heaven - about how love is compromised by other dreams, but what's really fresh is the way it uses the necessary backdrop of ideas about colonisation and the dream of a simpler, purer humanity, and turns them into neutral forces (much like natural forces) acting on the individuals in the drama. Criticisms of its historical accuracy or the strange accents are wretchedly beside the point. My teenage children, familiar with the story via Disney, sat utterly rapt through it. Films this good are rare and precious.

Masterpiece

I adore this film, just as I adore every other piece of cinema Terrence Malick has made. But after convincing some other people I respect to watch his films I've come to the conclusion that they are an aquired taste. Don't watch this film thinking that it'll be a historical document, its more of a speculative, emotional engagement with the characters and issues at the heart of America's creation. Malick's purpose isn't merely to tell a story which passes the time, but an almost Heideggerian quest for Being, illuminating questions and thoughts about existence and humanity for our reflection. I find it profound and moving in a most mysterious way. You surface at the end, drenched in meaning and wonder, unable to articulate the experience. I think Malick has invented his own kind of cinema - perhaps it is this that most people don't like; this cinematic challenge. Ironically if you let go of your preconceptions of what a film should be, and let it wash over you, watching like a child, then you are much more likely to get something from it. Sublime.

Interesting Historical Movie

Pocohontas, (her personal name was Matoaka), is the daughter of the powerful Intertribal leader Powhatan. When British settlers arrived at the future Jamestown and settled, she befriended them, maintained the peace between settlers and Indians, brought them food when they were starving, and actually saved Captain John Smith's life by throwing herself across him, and pleading for his life with her father. This is not rubbish as some reviewers have claimed, it is historical fact.

Q'Orianka Kilcher, who plays the part of Pocahontas, actually looks very much like the portrait of Pocahontas, that was painted by an unknown artist in 1616. Later Pocahontas married John Rolfe, a distinguished settler, so her English language abilities would have improved greatly, so the caustic comments in other reviews should be ignored. John Rolfe was no commoner, his English would have been the best of that period.

It is also a fact that Pocahontas and her husband and child were taken to London by Governor Dale, who was very impressed with the Indian princess, who he saw as a charming and adaptable lady, and a pleasing advert for the London Company of Virginia. She was well received at court, and welcomed by society. Unfortunately shortly before embarking for home, she was infected with smallpox and died in Gravesend in March 1617. Her little son, Thomas, was educated in England and later returned to Virginia. He became a leading citizen there.

Those who have called this story rubbish should go back and read their history books. Not only of Pocahontas, but of the settlement of Jamestown.

My only complaint about this movie is the soundtrack, one moment it blasts you out of the room, next you are straining your ears to hear the characters speech. Keep your volume control handy!

It is a slow moving film, but the scenery and music is beautiful.

Like a Model, Beautiful but Shallow

The cinematic equivalent of a Coffee Table - Photo Book!

It looks great, the boats, the armor, and the landscape everything about it looks good but that's all!

The dialogue is poor, the whole movie just seems far too pretentious for me!

And let's just not even talk about Mr. Farrell's accent starting as Irish but then turning Yorkshire!

Beautiful but Boring

I missed this film at the cinema and was anxiously waiting for it to come out on DVD. What a disappointment! Visually, the film was stunning but the storyline was tedious and not easy to follow.

I didn't watch through to the end - and I would probably have left the cinema if I had seen it there.