SummaryThe New World is a sweeping adventure set amidst the first encounter of European and Native American cultures during the founding of the Jamestown Virginia settlement in 1607. Acclaimed filmmaker Terence Malick brings to life his own unique interpretation of the classic tale of Pocahontas and her relationships with adventurer John Smith and arist... Read More
Directed By:Terrence Malick
Written By:Terrence Malick
The New World
Metascore
Generally Favorable
73
User score
Generally Favorable
7.2
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
73
71% Positive
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
29% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
A masterpiece.
100
A work of breathtaking imagination, less a movie than a mode of transport, and in every sense a masterpiece.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.2
66% Positive
69 Ratings
69 Ratings
23% Mixed
24 Ratings
24 Ratings
11% Negative
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
Oct 20, 2020
10
An underrated masterpiece from Malick, on par with The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life, among others.
May 17, 2019
10
You can feel the leaves..... Smell the wind.... Hear the whispers.... This movie is truly a spectacle. Everything about this movie feels authentic historically, emotionally, and physically. The actors do their part but mainly, this movie is a connection to nature and the philosophical aspects of what's done to it through history. This movie does not try and demonize the Indians or the English coming over, but takes time to understand them both equally and where they're coming from. You can feel the beating heart of this movie from start to finish and it's comforting hand. The towering trees shown from many low angle shots show nature's power above all things. Nature is silent and brings only ambience.... This movie is a phenomenal piece. Highly recommend 10/10
88
Malick's nature documentarian impulse has never been more flagrant than in The New World, yet it has never made more organic sense. The film, which is superb on every technical and design level, has both greatness and fuzzy-headedness in it.
75
The idealization of the native American existence in The New World, precolonization, is a pleasing fantasy but also timeworn and ahistorical. Surely someone as sophisticated as Malick - who once taught philosophy at MIT and was a Rhodes scholar - understands that he is putting forth a fabrication.
63
First written in the early '80s, Terrence Malick's fourth film in three decades is a trancelike take on the relationship of Native American princess Matoaka - better known by the nickname Pocahontas and English adventurer John Smith.
50
Malick still has an eye for landscapes, but since "Badlands" (1973) his storytelling skill has atrophied, and he's now given to transcendental reveries, discontinuous editing, offscreen monologues, and a pie-eyed sense of awe. All these things can be defended, even celebrated, but I couldn't find my bearings.
50
Malick's exalted visuals and isolated metaphysical epiphanies are ill-supported by a muddled, lurching narrative, resulting in a sprawling, unfocused account of an epochal historical moment.
Nov 30, 2011
10
Terrence Malick is a genius and a real artist. Exactly... This film is lighter then The Thin Red Line, but The New World is an amazing philosophical orgasm. Long and slow, even so beautiful and never dull. Colin Farrell is a great actor, but the best was Christian Bale. The script is lyrical, the shot is wonderful. Need more?
Sep 1, 2014
6
A wonderful vision of the founding of Virginia and the life of Pocahontas. Terrence Malick brilliantly presents the story without any Disney-isms and sheds realism upon it.
Dec 23, 2011
6
Malick's "The New World" try's to be profound and is at times, but it is always held back by it's horrible storytelling, Malick is master of all technical elements in film but he fails to draw in his audience. One can marvel at all his other skills like the cinematography and well written dialogue, but they will always be distant from the story. The begining of the film captivated my mind and pulled me in. However halfway through the film Malick failed to capture the love story and present it in a interesting way. Malick's The New World is a great story but it's extreme length and bad storytelling stop this film from being a masterpiece
Jul 27, 2018
3
Look beautiful, but boring as a rock. Not enough dialogue, anyone can make this better than Mallick has made, this is my Disney's Pocahantas.
Sep 14, 2017
0
This movie was so bad I was driven to trash it on the internet 11 years later. It's still the only film I have ever seriously considered walking out of the theater on. Don't be fooled, it's not too smart for you. A film doesn't need action or a gripping story or robust dialogue to be good, it just needs to make you feel something. The New World just made me feel bored. It doesn't take too long to uncover the film's thesis of "Nature sure is great!", but the problem is that it doesn't go anywhere else for the next three hours. The people mesmerized by the cinematography are likely urban art school types who have never gone outside and looked up at a tree before.
Production Company:
- New Line Cinema
- Sunflower Productions
- Sarah Green Film
- First Foot Films
- The Virginia Company LLC
Release Date:Dec 25, 2005
Duration:2 h 15 m
Rating:PG-13
Tagline:Once discovered, it was changed forever
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA)
• 5 Nominations
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 4 Nominations
