The New World
The New World, by Terrence Malick (USA 2005)
I must be one of the few people that thought that in some points of this movie Malick has been quite too much in a hurry ... I am completely satisfied by the movie. I don't feel equal to writing a review, therefore I shall limit myself to underline two scenes and add a little comment.
In one of the scenes the Powhatan are fishing in the river. It is evening, and the eyes can get lost in the deep sky. The apparent infinity of the sky evokes a sense of mystery. Using modern language we could describe this feeling in the following way: in order to live, it is necessary to extract informations and resources out of the surrounding environment. Not all of the relevant information is equally accessible, neither it is possible to trace the whole path of every resource. The fact that some resources are available without being completely in man's control (the fish, which is carried by the river) is a first source of the sense of mystery. There are then intuitions that help to get informations which are somewhat more hidden (as for example regularities in the behaviour of animals), and these are a second source of the sense of mystery: at the same time, one can understand that a much larger amount of information exists that remains completely inaccessible (to conclude the series of examples, these inaccessible informations could be represented by the sky).
Thoughts similar to these are, IMHO, a central component in Yeelen (a movie that I liked a lot, see IMDB for details), I would be interested to discover them in other movies as well ... there will be occasions, I believe.
In another scene a warrior dies. It seems to me that my own identity is built up, among other things, on a sea of words that constantly flutter in my head; most of the words are just below the threshold of my conscience but form a background which I am used to and I usually consider to be "myself".
In this scene the death is waited in silence. I should see the scene again to make sure, because I got carried away, but for sure there was not much chattering. The silence and the final farewell, together, are a sharp contrast with respect to words and this, I believe, can lead to a reflection on how solid is the identity that is built upon words.
I also would like to underline that noises and music in the soundtrack alternate each other and combine together in a surprising and I dare to say wonderful way.
I must be one of the few people that thought that in some points of this movie Malick has been quite too much in a hurry ... I am completely satisfied by the movie. I don't feel equal to writing a review, therefore I shall limit myself to underline two scenes and add a little comment.
In one of the scenes the Powhatan are fishing in the river. It is evening, and the eyes can get lost in the deep sky. The apparent infinity of the sky evokes a sense of mystery. Using modern language we could describe this feeling in the following way: in order to live, it is necessary to extract informations and resources out of the surrounding environment. Not all of the relevant information is equally accessible, neither it is possible to trace the whole path of every resource. The fact that some resources are available without being completely in man's control (the fish, which is carried by the river) is a first source of the sense of mystery. There are then intuitions that help to get informations which are somewhat more hidden (as for example regularities in the behaviour of animals), and these are a second source of the sense of mystery: at the same time, one can understand that a much larger amount of information exists that remains completely inaccessible (to conclude the series of examples, these inaccessible informations could be represented by the sky).
Thoughts similar to these are, IMHO, a central component in Yeelen (a movie that I liked a lot, see IMDB for details), I would be interested to discover them in other movies as well ... there will be occasions, I believe.
In another scene a warrior dies. It seems to me that my own identity is built up, among other things, on a sea of words that constantly flutter in my head; most of the words are just below the threshold of my conscience but form a background which I am used to and I usually consider to be "myself".
In this scene the death is waited in silence. I should see the scene again to make sure, because I got carried away, but for sure there was not much chattering. The silence and the final farewell, together, are a sharp contrast with respect to words and this, I believe, can lead to a reflection on how solid is the identity that is built upon words.
I also would like to underline that noises and music in the soundtrack alternate each other and combine together in a surprising and I dare to say wonderful way.
posted by JTS at
Friday, February 10, 2006
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