The New World (2005) (Criterion Collection) UK Only [Blu-ray] [2020]

I saw this film at the cinema when it was originally released, but it's taken me awhile to buy and play the DVD. It's strange how over the years since then my mind has come back to this film, breaking through momentarily from my subconscious. And when I read a recent article in `The Guardian' newspaper by John Patterson that praised it as the best film of the decade, I knew I had to purchase it and relive it. (Note, this is the 130-minute version; the Blue ray disc lasts 170 minutes.)The opening is extremely evocative with a few shiploads of colonists slowly moving upriver to found the colony of Jamestown in the year 1607. Their journey is made to the sound of Wagner's opening to `Rhinegold'. In fact, there is a very effective use of music made throughout this film. And as the colonists fan out into the undergrowth after their landing, I could not help think of similar scenes in Malick's previous movie, `The Thin Red Line'. Indeed, the film adopts the same expressing of thoughts that was so much a feature of that moving motion picture. The film opens in 1607, but closes in the year 1616. Pocahontas has become Rebecca, a curiosity at the English court of King James I.Ultimately this is a love story between the American Indian Pocahontas and her two successive `husbands', Captain Smith (played by Colin Farrell) and then John Rolfe (Christian Bale). But the film is also a meditation on the founding of America. When one of the colonists within minutes finds some oysters, the captain declares, "We're going to live like kings!" How right - and how wrong - he was! This is no romanticised picture of the founding of Virginia. The extras on this disc merely confirm what can be deduced from the film itself, namely that every effort has been made to ensure the authenticity of the film's narrative and style. It was filmed barely miles form the site of the original colony with the ships of the colony's museum, and all in natural light.The pace is steady, sometimes slow, but never without interest. There are long periods with no dialogue except the expression of the mind's thoughts and feelings. Sometimes there is too much mumbling and there are also some visual inconsistencies, for example in the numbers of men and boys. The editing is often very jumpy, and I notice there are four editors credited, so it sometimes feels that you are watching four films in one. But because the soundtrack is continuous, there is a solidity to the audio-visual experience.The extras include an hour-long `making of ...' in which it seems everyone but the notoriously reclusive director has something interesting to say.In his `Guardian' article, James Patterson declared that "when all the middlebrow Oscar-dross of our time has eroded away ... `The New World' will stand tall, isolated and magnificent, like Kubrick's black monolith." I'm not sure I would go that far, but it certainly is a masterpiece; once seen, it will never be forgotten.

I am a great fan of Terence Malik movies, and my expectations were high when I saw the movie, high enough for me to buy the dvd (though the extras were not very enlightening about the movie, the historical context, or Malik's intent).It would be horribly disappointing if you went in looking for another Last of the Mohicans, just as it would be frustrating to look for another Saving Sgt Ryan when you go to see The Thin Red Line. What you get is a cinematic poem. There is a story, and there is drama, but not in the conventional sense. The story and the drama lie in the gradual discovery of a new land, with new people in it, new beginnings - the ruminations of John Smith about building a new commonwealth where all will help one another, exploitation of labour will be shunned, and nobody shall make profit out of weakness is a standing indictment of what we know will be the nature of the new world being made; we've only been here an hour and we've already made a mess of it is the telling counterpoint made by Christopher Plummer's commander later.The starving times, the distrust of the natives who are planning to destroy the colony if the settlers don't go back, the wonder as Smith's love for Pocahontas grows, are all told through the natural surroundings, the (anachronistic) music, the trance-like language - inner monolgues in the best Malik fashion.Then - ouch, I hate to say this, but the last 40 minutes go all badly wrong. They return to England, the inner monologues (almost) vanish along with the beauty of the surroundings, but just where some sort of drama is needed to keep the film going, the cinematic poem turns into a costume documentary where all the characters wander around lost, in a pointless introduction of the native princess to King James and his gracious Queen (the music stops being anachronistic, turning into the Jacobean artifice of the masque, just when I was hoping for John Lennon to curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git).Sorry, I did enjoy the film, but the last 40 minutes did suck, and doesn't get better on further showings.

This is not an entirely accurate depiction of the history of Pocahontas and the preceding events. Its not trying to be. Its an experience, a beautiful piece of art that takes heavy inspiration from the history, and there is nothing wrong with that. I can still enjoy a more romanticized version of events, even if its not entirely accurate to the more unforgiving and harsh truth of what took place.As someone who loved the original Disney princess film i always wished for a live action adaption, and this is the closest thing to that. The extended cut is one of the most profoundly beautiful pieces of cinema i have ever witnessed. Its tragic, beautiful, emotional, and heartbreaking. The actress is absolutely breathtaking and does a phenomenal job at making the audience fall head over heels in love with her. The film delivers on a romanticized, yet tragic story of Pocahontas, the beauty and loss of our connection with nature, and creates a magnificent and emotional journey.I must recommend the extended cut of the film though. There are 3 versions here, but the extended cut is a thing of beauty. The theatrical cut loses 35 minutes of much needed footage, and in doing so loses much of the heart and soul of the film. Had i initially seen the theatrical cut first i honestly wouldnt have cared for the movie. The extended cut however is one of the best experiences i have ever had with a film. Just a wonderful experience, one that all people should see. If the story of Pocahontas intrigues you at all, watch this film, you wont be disappointed.

I did adore this mini series ! I recommend it !

Lasciando da parte terminologie "tecniche" e sulla qualità audio/video del Blu-Ray™ (non ho visto il film che ho comprato, se non alla TV diverse volte) l'ho comprato per il prezzo, indubbiamente dal mio punto di vista era favorevole. Ho aspettato che abbassasse e mi sono "accaparrato" il film.Per quanto riguarda la storia, è una personale visione della "favola" di Pocahontas e, tra nozioni e ricostruzioni storiche vere (basta cercare sul web per capire l'accuratezza) il regista Terrence Malick (La sottile linea rossa, To The wonder, tra gli altri film) vuole far capire, a chi vede il film, di come avvenne la genesi delle prima Colonie inglesi nel Nuovo Mondo. Il contatto con popolazioni cosiddette "primitive", i tanti "approcci" fatti di sguardi, di silenzi, di tentiativi certe volte non conciliati (ovvio che nè gli inglesi avevano mai visto queste popolazioni, e viceversa).Chi si aspetta azione, avventura e dramma vista dalla "massa" di spettatori rimarrà deluso. Terrence Malick è un poeta dell'immagine, dei silenzi, dei suoni naturali. C'è tutto in questo film, ma scorre lento perchè il tempo è visto da chi è vissuto nel XVII secolo (il protagonista impersonato da Colin Farrell), e ancor più lento è il tempo dei Nativi, le popolazioni che abitarono il Nuovo Mondo millenni prima dei "bianchi". La differenza sta proprio in questo: le popolazioni autoctone sono lì da secoli immemori, sanno come sopravvivere, mentre i bianchi tentano di popolare questa terra selvaggia a forza di stenti, malattie e violenze perpetuate nei confronti dei "locali".In definitiva, sconsigliato a chi non ha pazienza nel visualizzare immagini, pochi dialoghi e molti suoni. Inutile recensire un film se non sapete nemmeno di cosa si tratta!

une merveille

内容は良くも悪くもテレンス・マリック。あまりにも詩的過ぎて、おそらく大半の人が途中でダレて飽きるでしょう(苦笑)評価はあくまでもソフトとしてです。画質・音質は言うまでもなく最高ですが、このソフトにはなんと劇場公開版135分　ファースト・カット版150分　Extended Cut 172分の３バージョン収録！勿論特典映像満載の３枚組俺が買った出品者からは3,493円で買えたのですが、プレミア化したのか価格が高騰してますね(;^_^A作品そのものとしては特別好きではないですが、俺は最初からコレクションとして割り切って購入しました。日本ではまず手に入らないだろうから。因みに俺はまだExtended Cut 172分のバージョンしか観ていません(^^;)