Saturday Night Movie Review: The New World

Saturday, February 18, 2006

A bit something this week for my Saturday Night movie review. Today I had the pleasure of seeing a new release to theaters, The New World. This movie hit the big screen last month in limited release. I'd heard a great deal about the movie, and I had been wanting to check it out for myself.

It tells the story of the life and loves of a young savage woman known to us as Pocahontas. The movie stars Colin Farrell and Christian Bale as her two loves, the wild captain John Smith and the tamer John Rolfe. The role of Pocahontas, also known as Rebecca in the movie, is played by relative new comer, Q'orianka Kilcher, cousin to songstress Jewel Kilcher.

This movie sucks in you for two and a half hours. It does feel a bit slow in parts, but the film is so visually stunning that it keeps you watching the movie as it tells the story of this young woman. When the British land in the New World, she is immediately thrust into change, and this change in her life takes the form of Captain John Smith. Even at the young age of twelve, she finds herself in love with the man. The scenes between the two are definitely eyebrow raising, especially when one learns that Q'orianka was only fourteen when the movie was filmed. However, the more romantic scenes are definitely tame by today's standards.

We follow her life as she learns her love is dead, and a new love finds her, that of John Rolfe. When she learns Captain John Smith never died, she draws back from Rolfe, even though they have been together for years and have a child together. When she travels to England with him and their son, Rolfe allows her to see Smith because he knows he cannot keep her if her heart belongs to another. In the end, she chooses Rolfe, but as the story goes she dies soon thereafter.

This movie is just beautiful to watch. Most of the story is told in voice over by each of the three main characters throughout the movie, and these softly spoken words even add to the beauty of this film. I'd recommend seeing this film if you can in theaters or if you can find it on DVD when it is released. It is a beautiful re-telling of one of the oldest known love stories.