The New World - The Extended Cut (+ Digital Copy)
Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 10/14/2008 Run time: 171 minutes Rating: Nr
The legend of Pocahontas and John Smith receives a luminous and essential retelling by maverick filmmaker Terrence Malick. The facts of Virginia's first white settlers, circa 1607, have been told for eons and fortified by Disney's animated films: explorer Smith (Colin Farrell) and the Native American princess (newcomer Q'orianka Kilcher) bond when the two cultures meet, a flashpoint of curiosity and war lapping interchangeably at the shores of the new continent. Malick, who took a twenty year break between his second and third films (Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line), is a master of film poetry; the film washes over you, with minimal dialogue (you see characters speak on camera for less than a quarter of the film). The rest of the words are a stream-of-consciousness narration--a technique Malick has used before but never to such degree, creating a movie you feel more than watch. The film's beauty (shot in Virginia by Emmanuel Lubezki) and production design (by Jack Fisk) seems very organic, and in fact, organic is a great label for the movie as a whole, from the dreadful conditions of early Jamestown (it makes you wonder why Englishman would want to live there) to the luminescent love story. Malick is blessed with a cast that includes Wes Studi, August Schellenberg, Christopher Plummer, and Christian Bale (who, curiously, was also in the Disney production). Fourteen-year-old Kilcher, the soul of the film, is an amazing find, and Farrell, so often tagged as the next big thing, delivers his first exceptional performance since his stunning debut in Tigerland. James Horner provides a fine score, but is overshadowed by a Mozart concerto and a recurring prelude from Wagner's Das Rheingold, a scrumptious weaving of horns fit to fuel the gentle intoxication of this film. Note: the film was initially 150 minutes, and then trimmed to 135 by Malick before the regular theatrical run. It was also the first film shot in 65mm since Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. --Doug Thomas
The New World - The Extended Cut (+ Digital Copy) Accessories
 Days of Heaven - Criterion Collection
The Thin Red Line
Tristan and Isolde (Widescreen Edition)
Badlands
The Last of the Mohicans (Director's Expanded Edition)
Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (Widescreen Edition)
Munich (Widescreen Edition)
3:10 to Yuma (Widescreen Edition)
There Will Be Blood
Touch Of Evil (50th Anniversary Edition)
The New World - The Extended Cut (+ Digital Copy) Reviews
While achieving a high degree of the look and feel of the historical realities of the time period, including re-building an accurate Jamestown replica, the use of clothing and armaments of the era, the movie weaves facts and fiction into a seamless web. What I learned while reading those books is that the movie enhances a great deal of myth. There is something that deeply grips me about this movie. If I had to choose one version, at this point, I would opt for the original even though the added material is just as lush and beautiful to look at.
Seen from the perspective of the entire North American natives, this is the beginning of the end of their civilization. . I eagerly sought out this film when it first came out because I was so moved by Malick's "The Thin Red Line".
As I was watching the longer version I kept thinking whether I liked it or not, comparing and contemplating the effect of all the added material. There are other colors that are brought out. When I saw The New World" I was transformed; I simply had to know more about the drama. From another point of view the added material was by and large not needed as the imagination could have filled in some of the details. Again I found Colin Farrell's voice-overs spoken a bit too softly and it was hard to make out what he was saying. I am quite divided about the outcome.
I read 4 books on the subject until I was satiated. The relationship between Smith and some of the other leaders of the colonists is strongly enhanced and to good effect. I really had very little historical knowledge about the Pocahontas story. The story, although not historically accurate in so many ways, is very sad. Sometimes the less said the better. The extended version also shows in much more detail how much Smith bonded with and enjoyed his time with the Powhatten natives.
I actually found the voice overs badly cut as they often were right on top of other people speaking and one could not follow what people were saying; it was distracting and did not add to clarity. They are in some ways two different movies; the first version was tightly edited and cut and was stripped bare of excess dialogue and the emphasis then gravitated towards many scenes in which actors said nothing or just emoted with their faces. The touching conversation Pocahontas has with Opachancanough, her uncle, at the end of the film, highlights her sense of alientation, confusion but a strong sense of identity with her fellow Powhatten. From one point of view Malick's extended version has skewed the film even more towards the romance between Captain John Smith and the young and nubile Pocahontas. The impact this has is to deepen the sense of loss and suffering that Pocahontas endures when she (thinks) she has lost Smith.
I have watched my copy of the original cut many times and just a few days ago I bought the extended version and have seen it once. One only has to repeat this mantra and all will be well: this is a Hollywood movie, not a documentary. The second cut is much more wordy with much more voice overs.
While not as morally stimulating as 'The Thin Red Line', the film is nethertheless an interesting meditation on love - both for an individual and for idealistic concepts such as nation and belonging. The latter quarter is perhaps less gripping, but as a whole it is an achievement, even if it is not a masterpiece. However if you can get past this contradiction, the film is a stimulating example of 'great' American cinema. This is an example of poetic cinema at its best. For example Smith's relationship with Rebecca/Pocahontas has never been proven to be romantic in nature, which is a central tenet of both Disney's and Malick's. Where it fails is in a contradiction between a desire to elevate the primitive (shared with 'The Thin Red Line') and a Westernised misinterpretation of Native American concepts.
This appears to be a classic example of a western-centric viewpoint imposed on native values which is at odds, it feels, with Malicks' intentions. Amzon's review suggests that Malicks' New World is the 'true' version of Disney's Pocahontas story. Smith comments that the 'natives' have no concept of ownership, and yet minutes later they deliver lines to the effect of 'the white people are stealing our land'. The film, it must be said, is however beautiful. However even basic research will reveal that this retelling is as fictional and fallible as Disney's more famous counterpart.
As a fourth grade teacher I was pleased with the way this movie was made.as a Collin Farrel AND Christain Bale fan I was through the roof. Although the focus is on the "love story", a lot of it correlates with the Virginia Standards of Learning assessment. This was a great movie and I'm happy to add it to my collection.
The first was released on Christmas Day a couple of years ago and pulled two weeks later to be recut by Malick. Once again, it is the greatest movie of all time. So this extended cut is the third version I've seen of this film.
I saw the "Christmas" version three times in those two weeks and it really was the best film I had ever seen. This film is emotionally intense, beautifully shot and edited with amazing performances from the entire cast with special mentions for Colin Farrell (easily his best performance), Christian Bale and the astonishing, amazing, young actress who plays Pocahontas. So now the extended version comes out on dvd and this version has even more footage than the Christmas version that I had loved so much.
Then, I saw the cut version, and as a result of the original version being burnt in my mind, I found it to be unwatchable. I couldn't possibly recommend this version of this movie enough. I could do without the title cards in this version compared to the Christmas version but now, you have the true beauty and scope of the movie to appreciate.
Sidenote: only certain scenes were shot in 65mm format. But don't let this small technicality take away from your enjoyment of a beautifully filmed and directed movie. Just to be clear, the movie was great, I enjoyed the story aspect more watching it at home, and the visual in the theaters, but movie theater sound just does not cater to poetic and somber dialog like this. It is incorrectly stated above that the entire movie was shot in 65mm, and in the end it does not matter since no venues really project 70mm anymore, it was resize down to 35mm for theater projection; because 70mm projection aspect ratio is typically, 2.00:1 or 2.10:1 not 2.35:1 which The New World clearly displays.
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