The New World, Terrence Malick (2005)
Dramatic Structure
The New World is a film that director Terrence Malick choose to center the narrative not around one single character, but nature itself. As opposed the traditional ‘Man Vs. Nature’ film in which nature the antagonist, Malick instead chooses to make nature our protagonist against man, illustrating the effects that we have on nature. The script, which Malick began writing over thirty years before its release, does follow three characters though: John Smith (Colin Farrel), Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher) and John Rolfe (Christian Bale). The film presents an interesting take on the three act structure, because while it isn’t entirely traditional in this regard, there are three very distinct sections of the film and each one centers around one of the three primary characters I had mentioned above.
While there are numerous nonlinear moments in this film involving metaphorical voice-overs accompanied by visuals, the narrative structure itself is very linear, and it starts at the beginning when the indigenous Powhatan tribe watches as the English ships approach the bay. In this section of the film, the story centers primarily around Captain Smith and the early stages of the Jamestown colony as well as a developing romance between himself and Pocahontas. This relationship starts after her father, the tribe chieftain, encourages her to use her beauty to win the trust of Smite to ultimately gain information about his nation’s reasons for being here. After spending time with the tribe, Smith returns to Jamestown and greet with a harsher winter than they expected. It was only Smith’s friendship with Pocahontas that would allow the ones who did survive to live through the next winter, because against her father’s wishes she had begun giving them seeds.
Ultimately, her tribesmen discover the English colonist’s crop, revealing that they had lied about having no desire to permanently remain. At this point the second part of the film begins, and it primarily focuses on Pocahontas. After being excommunicated by her father for giving the English seeds, she finds her way to Jamestown and attempts to grow comfortable with the customs of the colonists while developing her relationship with Smith. Smith, however, is soon called away to return to England without Pocahontas, forcing her to live with an elder female colonist who attempts to fully integrate her into western world, especially after word comes in that Smith died at sea.
At this point, the third part of the story begins when Pocahontas encounters the wealthy tobacco farmer John Rolfe, and they quickly become romantically involved. In no time they’re engaged and she returns with him to England, only to she discovers that Smith is in fact not dead, causing her to question her engagement to Rolfe. After the three meet and have a confrontation, she ultimately decides to remain with Rolfe, and the two begin a family together, but we are quickly told she dies of an infection unceremoniously at the conclusion of the film. This tragedy of Pocahontas involving her integration into the English world and ultimate death is deeply tied to the overall theme of the film, the effect that the western expansion of the world has had on natural environments we conquered and colonized.
Style
Much like The Thin Red Line, this film’s style is centered on the director’s fascination with the central aspect of the film, the natural world. In this film, however, I feel that he intended to present the Powhatanies as deeply connected with nature, particularly the character of Pocahontas with her repeating, almost mantra-like prayers to Mother Nature. Malick wastes no time in drawing this connection in the general narrative of the film either, as when the English ships approach the shore, he uses the camera to immediately thrust us into the perspective of the Powhatanies. Malick uses this more subjective camera-work throughout the film to not just put us in the tribe’s perspective, but also numerous other character’s as well, often shifting the perspective between multiple characters in a single scene.
As far as cinematography is concerned, the director choose to go with a hyper-real look, almost as if they had went back in time and filmed during the 17th century. After a little research on this aspect of the film I discovered that Malick had laid down ground rules for the director of photography to follow, namely, they would not use lighting unless they absolutely had to and the entire film was to be shot using handheld. These parameters allowed this hyper-real visual style he desired. In contrast to the visual element, the audio was unrealistic and dominated by classical scoring and voice over narration. These voice-over’s, despite being unrealistic, are an important stylistic element used to progress the narrative, as well as reveal key character psychology.
The set design and costuming are other aspects of this film’s style that Malick used to both progress the narrative and express the theme of the film. The world English ships sailed into appeared to be untouched by humanity and expressed the deep connection between the Pawhatanies and nature. The costumes of the Powhatan tribe also represents their connection with nature, as the clothing the tribe wears seems to be crafted to celebrates their bodies as opposed to covering them. From its infancy, the sets that comprise Jamestown look more manmade, and as time passes and the colony grows, the size and the effect these manmade aspects have on nature grow as well. The costumes present this same contrast, which can be seen in not just the clothing of the colonists, but the westernization of Pocahontas from her tribal clothing to the long dresses that covered her body instead of celebrating it. An even starker contrast is brought out when Pocahontas and Rolfe return to England, and the sets are filled with elaborate architecture, bright colors, extravagant costumes that represented not just the complete westernization of Pocahontas, but natural world her character’s theme and spine were deeply tied to.
