Saturday, November 12, 2011
SEEING BEHIND THE MYTHS
Today's Terrence Malick film was
with Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer and Christian Bale.
This is a retelling of the Pocahontas / John Smith, / John Rolfe story in the context of the meeting of the "naturals" with the first English contingent arriving in what became Jamestown, VA.
It is not a documentary. I don't even know or care whether it is historically accurate although it is evident that great pains have been taken to present the daily life and conditions of both populations.
It mostly focuses all its interest on the woman we now call Pocahontas in whom the culture clash is personified both in her relationship to her two men and in her representation to the English King as American royalty. The "natural's" princess. Or Queen.
She is not given a name in the picture except, eventually, by the British.
All this takes place against the beautifully photographed Virginia coastal waters. The natural soundscape is wonderful. This is the only DVD I have seen where it was suggested on the menu that the volume be turned up to the max. The better to hear the natural sounds and the wonderful film score.
It is clear from the outset that Malick wants to show the encounter of the two peoples from an original standpoint. Not as history. There is no awareness of the outcome for them and I, frankly, forgot it. The raw curiosity between the peoples is palpable. Fear, fascination, a will to work together and behind all of this a wariness and distrust when modern machinations come into play. Or, the opposite, when perfectly normal native actions, to them, threaten the westerners.
A people to people experience. The indians are not presented as unevolved primitives nor the English as foreign devils.
I liked it very much and would be happy to see it again.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
