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 1 of 5

The New World Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG-13 (for intense battle sequences) Genre: Drama, Historical Theater release: January 20, 2006 by New Line Cinema Directed by: Terrence Malick Runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes Cast: Q'orianka Kilcher (Pocahontas), Colin Farrell (John Smith), Christopher Plummer (Christopher Newport), August Schellenberg (Powhatan), Christian Bale (John Rolfe) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

It's all in the eyes.

That's one of the lessons in The New World, an epic story of love and change, from the celebrated writer/director Terrence Malick. As the Europeans arrive on North American shores in 1607, we watch history unfold through the eyes of two characters on opposite sides of a cultural divide: John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher).

The New World is an extravagant achievement in historical recreation. It's also the most refined example of Malick's visual poetry, which he developed through Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line. He has a meditative style all his own that will aggravate many viewers who prefer straightforward narrative and conventional Hollywood flourishes. He's not an entertainer so much as he is a poet who uses pictures instead of words. Creation itself pours forth speech, as the psalmist says, and Malick invites those with eyes to see to look closer and listen carefully.

At times, the imagery captured by Emmanuel Lubezki's camera feels like a dream: a line of birds unfurling from the forest like a whip, a lightning blast whiting out the wilderness, and—Malick's favorite spectacle—wind in the grass.

Colin Farrell as Captain John Smith

But we're given more than the wonders, joys, and horrors that Smith and Pocahontas witness. Malick lets us eavesdrop on their private thoughts, the way we listened to the philosophical soldiers of The Thin Red Line. Their inner monologues distill their experiences into primal questions: What compels men to control or destroy what they don't understand? Where does the conscience come from? What does love require of us?

If eyes are windows to the soul, John Smith's soul is deeply troubled. He's a haunted, damaged, guarded man. When he's released from imprisonment in a ship's holding cell, brought out into broad daylight, and given a chance to redeem himself for "mutinous remarks," Smith looks at this "promised land" through a turbulent mix of fear and ambition.

He has reason to be afraid: His own people are volatile, quarreling, and divided over who should lead them in the unexplored territory. When winter arrives and food grows scarce, some will turn downright beastly. These Europeans talk like a God-fearing bunch, but the irony is a thick as the mud on their boots. One moment they're musing about God's love and growing nostalgic for Eden, and the next they're tying up natives and loading their pistols.

Under the direction of Captain Christopher Newport (Christopher Plummer), the Jamestown settlement begins to take shape. Newport, striving to gain a firm foothold for London's Virginia Company in this "promised land," speechifies about how this paradise was given to the Englanders by God, and "wobetide the man who turns his back on him." Too late. Ungodly behavior has already begun in earnest, as they dig in their heels and jealously plot how to take ownership of the territory.

Smith is also properly wary of the distrustful and dangerous natives, members of an ancient culture ruled by a chieftain called Powhatan (August Schellenberg). The first meeting of these contrary societies is an intense pageant of amazement and curiosity that sets our nerves on edge.

Despite Smith's burning gaze, the eyes that will haunt you long after the credits roll belong to the young, impetuous, graceful girl who saves his life from the natives' wrath—Pocahontas. Through her eyes, the natural beauty of a land her culture has long called home seems to be newly born, the forest taking its first breath, the trees stretching skyward in exuberance.

Her compassion wins Smith's freedom and slowly drives the shadows from his troubled eyes, inspiring him to tenderness and a longing for "a new start, a fresh beginning." Thus, Smith and the girl begin a cautious, curious, flirtatious dance, winding through Powhatan's neighborhood, one of the most beautiful courtships ever filmed.

Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher) bridges the divide between the Native Americans and the white settlers

Malick choreographs a passionate love story that respects their intuitive relationship. The love flowering in this remnant of Eden is erotic in the purest sense of the word: a reverent intimacy of minds, bodies, and spirits. And while it isn't clear whether they consummate the relationship—it may have been chaste, it may not have—it's nonetheless the real deal, powerfully superior to the common Hollywood misconception that true love is best commemorated with titillating sex scenes. (I'm talking to you, Cold Mountain!)

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