**1/2 – Frolicking around in the tidal marshes of Virginia at the dawn of the 17th century with a bunch of people who spend most of their time whooping and hollering and covering themselves in some sort of paint/mud/goo congealment is not my idea of the idyllic life. However, 2005’s epic “The New World” starring Colin Farrell is another in a long line of films that plays up the Native American lifestyle as far superior to that of Europeans. While you’ll get no argument from me regarding the pitfalls and numerous less-than-stellar aspects of 1600’s Europe, I am getting pretty annoyed at the continued portrayal of Native Americans and perfect beings ‘at one with nature’, and the eastern interlopers as raping and pillaging conquerors who are constantly infighting. The truth is that both lifestyles were hard and brutal and savage and sad in many ways. So where this retelling of the Pocahontas/John Smith story falls down is in its unfortunate one-sidedness. Also, it was very long and had very little dialogue other than Farrell’s occasional oddly flowery narration. The score was nicely done and the scenery was pretty spectacular but the story it’s based on is pretty stale, and the romantic aspects of this film were more heavily featured than I anticipated. It’s not a bad film, I guess, but it is a bit of a challenge to sit all the way through, especially with its extreme bias.
The New World
**1/2 – Frolicking around in the tidal marshes of Virginia at the dawn of the 17th century with a bunch of people who spend most of their time whooping and hollering and covering themselves in some sort of paint/mud/goo congealment is not my idea of the idyllic life. However, 2005’s epic “The New World” starring Colin Farrell is another in a long line of films that plays up the Native American lifestyle as far superior to that of Europeans. While you’ll get no argument from me regarding the pitfalls and numerous less-than-stellar aspects of 1600’s Europe, I am getting pretty annoyed at the continued portrayal of Native Americans and perfect beings ‘at one with nature’, and the eastern interlopers as raping and pillaging conquerors who are constantly infighting. The truth is that both lifestyles were hard and brutal and savage and sad in many ways. So where this retelling of the Pocahontas/John Smith story falls down is in its unfortunate one-sidedness. Also, it was very long and had very little dialogue other than Farrell’s occasional oddly flowery narration. The score was nicely done and the scenery was pretty spectacular but the story it’s based on is pretty stale, and the romantic aspects of this film were more heavily featured than I anticipated. It’s not a bad film, I guess, but it is a bit of a challenge to sit all the way through, especially with its extreme bias.
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