Hi, I'm back. I just watched The New World, in a pre-screening over at the Fashion Valley UA 18 in San Diego. Colin Farrell starred in the movie about the love story of Captain John Smith and the American Indian princess Pocahontas, so important to the early emergence of the English settlement of Virginia in the early 17th century. The movie is a touching, sensitive portrayal of the coming of the European strangers to what was a 'new world' to them, but something quite different to the Indians--a strangers' intrusion and curiosity at best, and a hostile invasion at worst. But far from it being a case of European triumphalism or a typically bad case of political correctness, this was far more balanced, and surprisingly artistic in its subtlety. There were a few spots in which the subtleties, director Terrence Malik's desire to reflect the unspoken emotional perspective of Pocahontas, was somewhat tedious. But it was not for lack of effort by the actors.
That was especially true of Q'orianka Kilcher, the 15-year old ingenue who, in her first film, actually became the actress who carried the movie. That such a feat is incredible is made more so by the fact that she was surrounded by veteran actors Farrell, Christian Bale as the English aristocrat John Rolfe, and Christopher Plummer as the tough but decent Governor Newport. Kilcher shows herself as an enormous future talent in one important way for an actress, the ability to act without dialogue, which she did over and again in the movie. Farrell does his typical bad-boy brood through the movie, with his native Irish accent done too well for an American audience to understand. And Bale is credible as the rich but decent man Pocahontas marries after being deserted by once-true love John Smith. It was a subtle but effective way that Rolfe combines his authentic Christian faith and sensitive love to win Pocahontas' heart, and keep it, even after she finds out, years later, that Captain Smith had not died at sea, and she has to choose, in England, between the two loves.
American history has to be approached realistically, both in education and in entertainment. Traditionally it has been the subject of jingoism, but in the last decade and a half the addiction to America-hating PC has just been nauseous. It's become hard to look at an honest portrayal of the injustices done by America's early explorers and settlers without feeling that the story is less about honesty and more about a deliberate attempt to destroy the basis for Americans to have that unpretentiously infectious patriotism we're so known for. It's the feeling that Hollywood just wants us to just say "we're no big deal", and fall into the amorphous mass that is the rest of the UN-like one world into which these cultural elites prefer we all merge. Fortunately, The New World tries to be a little more on truth and a little less on political rhetoric.
If you're into lots of action and you want the context spoon-fed to you, this movie is definitely not for you, as most of the theater-goers expressed tonight. If you're into a movie that makes you feel, as well as think, you'll enjoy this one.
That was especially true of Q'orianka Kilcher, the 15-year old ingenue who, in her first film, actually became the actress who carried the movie. That such a feat is incredible is made more so by the fact that she was surrounded by veteran actors Farrell, Christian Bale as the English aristocrat John Rolfe, and Christopher Plummer as the tough but decent Governor Newport. Kilcher shows herself as an enormous future talent in one important way for an actress, the ability to act without dialogue, which she did over and again in the movie. Farrell does his typical bad-boy brood through the movie, with his native Irish accent done too well for an American audience to understand. And Bale is credible as the rich but decent man Pocahontas marries after being deserted by once-true love John Smith. It was a subtle but effective way that Rolfe combines his authentic Christian faith and sensitive love to win Pocahontas' heart, and keep it, even after she finds out, years later, that Captain Smith had not died at sea, and she has to choose, in England, between the two loves.
American history has to be approached realistically, both in education and in entertainment. Traditionally it has been the subject of jingoism, but in the last decade and a half the addiction to America-hating PC has just been nauseous. It's become hard to look at an honest portrayal of the injustices done by America's early explorers and settlers without feeling that the story is less about honesty and more about a deliberate attempt to destroy the basis for Americans to have that unpretentiously infectious patriotism we're so known for. It's the feeling that Hollywood just wants us to just say "we're no big deal", and fall into the amorphous mass that is the rest of the UN-like one world into which these cultural elites prefer we all merge. Fortunately, The New World tries to be a little more on truth and a little less on political rhetoric.
If you're into lots of action and you want the context spoon-fed to you, this movie is definitely not for you, as most of the theater-goers expressed tonight. If you're into a movie that makes you feel, as well as think, you'll enjoy this one.
posted by Floyd @ 10:26 PM
