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The New World |
| The New World | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Terrence Malick |
| Produced by | Sarah Green Terrence Malick |
| Written by | Terrence Malick |
| Starring | Colin Farrell Q'Orianka Kilcher Christopher Plummer Christian Bale |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Editing by | Richard Chew Hank Corwin Saar Klein Mark Yoshikawa |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) |  December 25, 2005 (limited) January 20, 2006 (wide) January 20, 2006 January 27, 2006 |
| Running time | 150 mins (limited US release & Italian DVD-release) 135 mins (wide release and DVDs worldwide) |
| Language | English Algonquin |
| Budget | US$ 30,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | US$ 26,184,4001 |
The New World is a 2005 drama / romance film directed by Terrence Malick. It is a historical adventure set during the founding of the Jamestown, Virginia settlement and inspired by the historical figures Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.
The New World is Malick's fourth feature film, and was written by him. The cast includes Colin Farrell, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, David Thewlis and Yorick van Wageningen. The production team includes director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki, production designer Jack Fisk, costume designer Jacqueline West and film editor Richard Chew. The film had an estimated budget of $30 million and was produced by Sarah Green.
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The New World opens at the dawn of the 17th century, just prior to the European colonization of the Americas when the North American population consisted primarily of indigenous American Indian tribes, and isolated Spanish colonies. In 1607, three ships approach the unfamiliar continent, with 103 sailors on board. As members of the Virginia Company, these adventurers carry a royal charter to found a colony on the edge of the new continent. John Smith sits chained below one of the decks. He has been sentenced to death by hanging upon the ships’ arrival because of his mutinous grumblings. However, Captain Christopher Newport realizes Smith's abilities are essential to the colony's survival and pardons him.
Smith seeks assistance from the Algonquian tribes with colonization, but while exploring is captured by a hostile band of warriors and brought to Chief Powhatan. Just as Smith is about to be clubbed to death by a warrior, a young beautiful Algonquian princess, who is curious about the English strangers, steps in between the executioner and Smith. The young girl, Powhatan’s youngest daughter, Pocahontas, persuades her father to spare Smith’s life. John Smith learns of the Indians' peaceful and happy way of life by spending time with Pocahontas, and eventually they fall in love. Their relationship makes Chief Powhatan uneasy.
When spring arrives, Chief Powhatan sends Smith back to Jamestown with a band of Pocahontas’ villagers, who intend to aid the hungry men of the Virginia Company. Smith, whose usual aggressiveness has been calmed by Pocahontas and the tranquility of her world, comes into conflict with his fellow Britons and he is deposed as leader of the colony. The tension between the settlers and the Native Americans builds, and a battle erupts between them. Before the battle, Pocahontas went to inform Smith; as a result, her father exiles her, and she is sent to the realms of her father's cousin in the North. While she is there, the Chieftain trades her for a copper kettle so the men of Jamestown can hold her as a captive to stop the massacres. Smith doesn't agree with taking her as the hostage, but is powerless to stop it.
Smith and Pocahontas fall more deeply in love, but soon the King of England orders him to lead another exploration. Smith is torn between his duty and his love. Not wanting Pocahontas to live in loneliness waiting for his return, he asks a fellow settler to wait two months and tell Pocahontas he is dead. Pocahontas is devastated but continues living with the British settlers. She soon adopts the English way of life and is later baptized and renamed “Rebecca”. In her grief for Smith, the Algonquian princess has retreated into a world of solitude and refuses to speak to anyone. A plantation owner John Rolfe, comforts her and, in the process, falls in love with her. He asks her to marry him, knowing she doesn't love him. She agrees and the couple runs their homestead and eventually have a son.
After a few years, The King and Queen invite Pocahontas to England with her family. The Lady Rebecca is an instant sensation among the British aristocracy, and she is amazed by the way of life in England.
Captain Smith comes to see her, unsure he is doing the right thing. Rolfe regrets forcing Pocahontas to marry him when she loves another. Though the deep attraction between Smith and Pocahontas still smoulders, when he describes their time in Virginia as a dream, she is able to put her love for Smith in the past and embrace her love for Rolfe. They decide to return to Virginia, but she falls ill and dies. Rolfe returns to Virginia with their son, Thomas.
The film was shot on location at the Chickahominy River, a tributary of the James River not far from the site of the real events, and other nearby locations. Reconstructions of the Jamestown settlement and of the Powhatan village were created, based on archaeological evidence and intuition. Tools and materials used were of the geographical and technological environment of the setting. The attention paid to authenticity was of such a level that strains of Indian corn and tobacco were sought out and planted, rather than to settle for strains that are commonly found today. The England scenes were filmed at Hampton Court Palace and Hatfield House, near London, and outside the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Blair Rudes, professor of linguistics at UNC-Charlotte, re-created the extinct language of Virginian Algonquian [1] for the film.
The New World is the first studio feature in nine years to be at least partially shot on 65 mm film (for non-visual effect shots). The previous one was Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), which was filmed entirely in 65 mm.
The film's love scenes between Colin Farrell's character and the then 14-year-old Kilcher caused some controversy, resulting in the film studio deleting several scenes with Farrell to avoid child pornography accusations.2 Kilcher admitted in several interviews that kissing Farrell during filming was her first kiss. 3
The film was originally set to be released in November 2005, but release had to be postponed as Malick was still editing the enormous amount of footage he had shot; the director is notorious for editing his films until the last minute,4 often trimming his films and leaving entire characters out of the final print, as is the case with The Thin Red Line.
In early December, a 150-minute version was shown to critics for awards season consideration and was released for a week from Christmas to New Year's Day in two theaters each in Los Angeles and New York to qualify for the Academy Awards.
For the film's wide release, which began on January 20, 2006, Malick re-edited the film again, cutting it to 135 minutes, but also adding footage not seen in the first release and altering some of the film's extensive voiceovers to clarify the plot. Substantial changes were made to the first half-hour of the picture, seemingly to speed the plot along.5 This version is the one released on DVD worldwide. The 150 minute version only saw DVD release in Italy as part of Italian distributor Eagle Pictures 2-disc set containing both the "short" and "long" version of the movie.
A 172-minute version, packaged with a documentary on the making of the film, was issued by New Line on DVD in October 2008.6
The effect of Malick's editing also resulted in a partial rejection of James Horner's score. Horner wrote and rewrote his score to scenes that were switched around, massively reedited, or thrown out of the film completely. His score then did not fit the film or did not make chronological sense in the film. For the final version, Malick combined pieces of Horner's music with the prelude to Wagner's Rheingold, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, and other pieces to create the score to the film. Most of Horner's score as written for the film can be heard on the CD release.
Malick's film selectively blends recorded history with popular lore. It broadly follows the known life of Pocahontas, from her youth in the Powhatan village, to a period spent with the English settlers in Jamestown, her marriage to John Rolfe, her journey to London and early death; however, Malick diverges from available evidence in favor of the literary tradition that Pocahontas fell in love with John Smith. However, the film depicts Smith leaving Jamestown on orders from the king. Smith then has the settlers tell Pocahontas that he drowned. Smith actually left Jamestown because of an injury when his powder horn exploded and almost blew off his leg. Pohcahantas was told he died on the trip to England. Pohcahantas is shown being kidnapped by the settlers when Smith is still in Jamestown. In reality, Smith had to leave from a gunpowder injury in 1609. Pohcahanas was kidnapped in 1613. Wingfield is also shown being shot by the settlers, but in reality he lived until 1630 and even wrote several books on Jamestown.
The film gained mixed reviews, with praise been given to the actors. The consensus on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes was "Despite arresting visuals and strong lead performances, The New World suffers from an unfocused narrative that will challenge viewers' attention spans over its 2 ½ hours." The film received a 60% rating from 163 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
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