An austere yet faithful meditation on the nature of two worlds in collision, this is one of the best films of the last ten years. Forget the Farrell factor, this is pure spiritualism in cinematic movement.
Firstly, there’s all the potential clichés of films about discovery, the West, and the colonial Eden of American dreams. If you saw The New World trailer with Indian natives, European tall ships and fighting colonialists, especially after those Columbus films of several years back, and the entire cliché-catalogue of cowboys & injuns or films that go up the river, then you’d be prepared to sigh dispiritedly. But this is the pure, honest opposite of that cliché and drivel. It completely eschews any prejudiced POV or familiar fare. Continue reading “Terrence Malick – The New World”