Paradise Lost
In The New World, Pocahontas takes moviegoers on a spiritual journey
Pocahontas means “playful one.”
And perhaps it was playfulness
that led the 12-year-old Native
American princess to courageously
befriend a man from another world: British
explorer Captain John Smith.
Those were tense times for the native Powhatan
tribe as British settlers moved into what
would become known as the Virginia territory
in 1607. And it wasn’t exactly a picnic for
the British either. As they staked their claim
and set up the Jamestown settlement, disease
and weather proved to be as dangerous as the
disgruntled residents of this “new world.”
Thus, the relationship between the girl
and the captain became a crucial, peacekeeping
link. Without their unlikely bond, the
newcomers might have starved.
Despite persistent mythmaking, there is
no proof that Pocahontas and Smith fell in
love. In fact, she later married another Englishman,
John Rolfe. They had a son, who
traveled with them back to London, where
Pocahontas died at the age of 21. But storytellers
seem unable to resist the possibility
that the strength of her relationship with
Smith stemmed from a passionate love affair.
The idea proved irresistible to the legendary
director Terrence Malick, a filmmaker
who is far from prolific. His three previous
films — Badlands, Days of Heaven, and The
Thin Red Line — were released over a 30-year
period. But he’s emerged once again to share
his version of the Pocahontas/Smith story,
and The New World is his most ambitious
project yet.
Heavy Oscar competition and New Line
Cinema’s lackluster marketing endeavor
ensured the film’s burial during its theatrical
run. But a new DVD release, and reports of
an upcoming expanded edition, have returned
the feature to the spotlight. Now viewers have
another opportunity to see three compelling
performances and an unusually poetic contribution
to the cinema of American history.
We trace Malick’s imaginative embellishment
through a variety of episodes based on
journal entries and historical records: the
development of Jamestown; the bewilderment
of the natives; the hardships of the disease-stricken, malnourished English pioneers;
and the tragic devolution of a cultural truce.
Once upon a time, Hollywood would have
portrayed Europeans as valiant heroes driving
back a wicked horde of savages. Today, it’s more
likely to be the other way around: idealized
natives get slaughtered by cruel caricatures of
European conquerors. Malick avoids these
generalizations. He clearly shares the natives’
devotion to the natural world, and yet, while he
seems more sympathetic to their plight than to
the sufferings of the presumptuous newcomers,
he portrays both sides as being capable of
courage, naiveté, brutality, and fear. While we
watch Jamestown’s residents descend into anarchy
and madness, it’s easy to imagine how this
could happen in the middle of such hardship.
But Malick is even more interested in how
the intimate romance of Pocahontas
(Q’Orianka Kilcher) and John Smith (Colin
Farrell) represents a larger human story —
the universal longing for a paradise lost. Their
journals and thoughts reveal dangerous
assumptions: Smith thinks the natives are
incapable of jealousy, while the princess
believes that Smith has “no evil” within him.
The lovers’ idyllic dreams become unreachable
fantasies in view of the growing animosity
between their cultures, and their gentle
romance is spoiled by the burden of cultivating
peace. Where Brokeback Mountain celebrated
the individual’s passion as the highest
virtue, Malick’s convictions are more profound.
He portrays the honor in restraint, the
danger of uncontrolled passion, and the wisdom
of trust, selflessness, and sacrifice.
Trained to root for rebellious lovers, moviegoers
may be surprised to learn, late in the film,
that the princess has another worthy admirer.
John Rolfe (Christian Bale) is British, a Christian,
and a tobacco farmer — three traits that
American moviegoers usually associate with
villains. But Rolfe is a sensitive, gentle soul, a
man of profound faith. Eventually, Pocahontas
will face a heartbreaking choice. Should
she dedicate herself to a volatile, passionate
explorer, or a humble, devoted farmer?
Malick is a rare artist who understands that
creation itself “pours forth speech.” As his camera
captures the magisterial beauty of water,
trees, sky, and sunlight, he asks us to treat these
things as more than just scenery. Whether
Pocahontas is strolling through tall grass, or
blessing a friend with the gift of a feather, she’s
telling us things about herself that words cannot
paraphrase. Such subtlety may bore those
viewers who prefer fast-paced action and more
conventional storytelling. But filmgoers who
enjoy participating in the experience will be
rewarded by this feast of visual metaphors.
Wim Wenders, acclaimed director of Paris,
Texas, and Wings of Desire, says he has not seen
a film of these proportions since 2001: A Space
Odyssey. “I think eventually the film will go
down as a classic, and we’ll remember 2005 as
the year that The New World was overlooked.
We will not even know anymore which movies
got the Oscars.” He’s right. The New World may
not be designed for today’s short attention
spans, but it’s a masterpiece all the same.
— By Jeffrey Overstreet
— Photo by Meire Wallace / New Line Productions
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