In 2005 Terrance Malick released only the fourth film of his directorial career outside of his education at the American Film Institute. Much in the vein of his former films, The New World is a film that requires a categorization outside of the conventional genres one would find at their nearest Blockbuster, one that can be defined simply as a Terrance Malick film. In this film Mr. Malick does more than tell us of a love story between the famed Pocahontas and John Smith, but rather shows us the awe and beauty of a new and unexplored land in a way only his collaboration with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki can bring. Together the pair captures a moment in time, and a place in history, that cannot possibly be depicted with more natural splendor.
To go into this film expecting a love story like a Hugh Grant movie, or the action adventure of an Indian Jones flick, is like taking a drive through Yellowstone National Park expecting to see an epic battle for dominance between the bears and mountain lions. Instead, the story of the characters are secondary to the real theme of the film, the land and earth of which Malick devotes much of the films screen time focusing on. It is the fluid movement of the camera through the fields of wild, untamed grass, and the capturing the subtle movements of wind through the fields in a way only Terrance Malick can, where the true film lies. Pocahontas, as played by Q’uorianka Kilcher, even tells us this in the opening lines of voice over where the camera holds steady on a shot of rippling water. “Come spirit, help us sing the story of our land. You are our mother.” Malick wastes no time indicating the main subject of the film, asking Mother Earth to help in telling of her story, not coincidently placed over such a symbol for women as that of a body of water.
It is then no surprise that in emphasis of this point, Malick made the conscious decision to use only natural elements of props and lighting for the film. The sets we built on location in the forests of Virginia, where the villages of the natives and the colonialists were built in their entirety. This allowed for limitless possibilities for both Malick and Lebezki to capture the moment exactly how they desired, as if it were real, not bound by unfinished props or a finite number of camera angles; creating endless movement of the camera to pan the vast landscape, both inside and out, of the areas of domestication. This ability enabled Malick to film longer takes and provide fewer cuts in the film. Since, what is the point of filming something beautiful if it is just going to be cut up and unnoticeable? Film theorist Andre Bazin once said, it is cinema’s ability to capture the moment that makes it precious, so why cut and break the majestic beauty of a Terrance Malick shot?
Terrance Malick even made the choice to use only natural lighting throughout the film; even shots inside were filmed with the natural light of the sun. This, again, did not limit Malick in his vision, but rather added a rich tonal element to the film; seen most notably in his shots of the sun rising and setting on the horizon. It gives the audience the chance to see the film as if it were real, the way John Smith, and the others would have gazed upon this new land; and just as Smith is thrust into the darkness of the shelter of the natives, the camera follows him in keeping both the action, the audience, and the characters in the dark. It is not until Pocahontas throws herself upon John Smith that sunlight floods into the hut, as if Mother Nature herself has delivered Pocahontas like an angel.
Though one might not notice ,due to the often-used technique of voice over in the film, but the film does not contain a large amount of dialog, especially in comparison to most other narrative films of this time. However, this is no mistake, for not only does the film not warrant a lot of dialog, but too much conversation between the characters, especially Smith and Pocahontas, would have deterred from the meaning of the film. Malick intentionally uses the inability of the two to communicate through speech as a way to again emphasize the importance of the land in the film. Much of the time the two spend together is alone in the forest, in the fields, or on the waters edge. Often their time spent together is intercut with footage nature and birds flying in the sky, showing how the two are inseparable from their surroundings, and it is when the two are forced apart that the real conflict of the film arises. It is no mistake that Q’orianka Kilcher is dressed in animal skin and often blends in perfectly with their surrounds as she plays in the grass and walks in among the trees, she represents the purest beauty of nature that John Smith feel in love with upon his landing in the New World. Then it is after Smith leaves from her life and she is sold to the colonialists that she loses both her connection to nature, her native dress, and even her life as she travels to England where civilization has literally conquered and tamed nature.
In fitting with the theme of the film it is not surprising that the film opens at a time of sunrise, where the birds chirp excitedly and the sun starts to peak over the horizon illuminating shores of the new land, symbol of hope. Just as the voice over indicates, and the sun represents, we see Pocahontas shot from an extreme low angle as she stretches upwards towards the sky, as if rising from the earth herself; being born in this very moment, rising from the womb of Mother Earth as the day begins. Likewise, the film ends during the time of sunset as the last images of civilization are made mere black shadows. More significantly the last scene of a person in the film is a shot of Pocahontas’s grave where her life has ended, she is returned back into the womb of Mother Nature from which she came. Followed only by the last shots of water and the wind blowing through the trees in a way that only Terrence Malick can capture, again cycling the film back to its natural roots
The New World
