How do you get over your first love? Maybe you will always love him, but that is all right because it is possible to love the man of your past and live in the present. Terrence Malicks fourth film The New World (2005) is an epic love story that misses the mark.
Pocahontas, Q'orianka Kilcher, exuberates life. She experiences the joys of first love with Colin Farrell. They share pleasures in a fantasy world, which Farrell says is a dreamlike world, but he later acknowledges that this world was the most real thing he has known. The dream world shatters with the outside world, which demands Farrells attention. Farrell feels the call of reality and leaves his love, and instructs the she be informed that he is dead in an attempt to make her forget him. His departure almost breaks her. Another man, Christian Bale, relates to her sufferings and eventually grows to love her. They marry, but she has not forgotten her first love.
Voiceovers tell the emotions. These voiceovers have a beauty and quality of their own, for they are the only insight into the characters love. Some may say that they detract from the love; however, they are the only way that the depths of the love are made known. The acting is minimalist and one could not understand the love on its own.
The movie has a generic look comparable to the recent epics like Ridley Scotts Kingdom of Heaven (2005) or Oliver Stones Alexander (2004). There are a few beautiful shots of nature, but this is not uncommon. Nick Cassavetes The Notebook (2004) also features dazzling shots of the sunset and rain.
A subplot to the love story is the clash of cultures. The British civilize Kilcher while she carries on her romances. These details play a minor role in contrast to the love story.
Some of the metaphors in the film are poorly written. At one point Kilcher says something to the effect of your words pour through me like a river. There is also a running symbolism with trees. After Farrell leave Kilcher, she is encouraged to be like a tree, one that grows and always reaches for the light. The last shot is the tree metaphor cashed out in poor taste.
The film is too big for a simple love story. The audience senses a detachment from the characters, possibly because of the voiceovers. The movie has some insight on how first love stays with a person, but the problem is that the relationship with the second lover is hardly established. The love seems forced. The movie is a disappointment for Malick fans.
Ryan just informed me that Malick, in between making films, is a philosophy professor and is into Kierkegaard: a good choice with Kierkegaard if you want your life to be changed in a necessary but depressing way. There is some hope to his despair.
~Kristen Gorlitz