Film Reviews

The New World

• Rating:
• Director: Terence Malick
• Starring: Christian Bale
• Details: US, 135mins, 12s.

Searching for a passage to India in 1607, an English pioneering expedition led by John Smith (Farrell) lands on what is now known as West Virginia. On a scouting mission inland, the Powhatan tribe attacks Smith's team and all but Smith are killed. In captivity, Smith strikes up a relationship with the daughter of the tribe's chief, Pocahontas (Kilcher). As the pair fall in love, Smith learns a whole new culture, while Pocahontas convinces her father to let Smith go as she protests that these 'invaders' have no plans to stay. However, when the Englishmen have made no moves to depart, the tribe plan and attack - but a forewarning by Pocahontas leads to a victory for the colonists.
Malick returns with less fanfare than The Thin Red Line and, since everybody bar Elvis was queuing up for a part in that WWII drama after his long self-imposed exile, Malick changes direction slightly, making The New World a more downbeat, quiet and intimate affair. The reclusive director once again brings his narrative space and loose plot structure to the fore and even though all the Malick ingredients are present - a meandering story, countless shots of vegetation, puzzling cut-aways and poetic voiceovers - there is a feeling that something is missing this time round as The New World at times feels like a rehash of his earlier work (in fact, some of the voiceover sounds like lines that were left on The Thin Red Line's cutting room floor). It seems that actors who want to star in a Malick film for no other reason than it's a Malick film soon find out that their performances become a little redundant and that they will always come a poor second place to the auteur's vision; Farrell, unusually restrained here, looks content to trust in his director but his endless wistful gazing into the distance gets old very quickly, while Kilcher has nothing to do but wander around in the tall grass looking beautiful. Although many detractors may label Malick's films inane and plot-starved, they are unquestionably a visual feast and as wonderfully pointless as fireworks.

Review by Gavin Burke