Official Movie Website Theatrical Release 12/25/05 (Limited) 01/20/06 Home Video 05/09/06 MPAA Rating Rated PG-13 for some intense battle sequences Running Time 2 hours 30 minutes Genre Drama Director/Writer Terrence Malick Cast Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, David Thewlis, Yorick van Wageningen, Q'orianka Kilcher Studio New Line Cinema |
THE NEW WORLD
SYNOPSIS
" …in the beginning all the World was America, and
more so than it is now."
- John Locke, Second Treatise on government (1690)
The New World is an epic adventure set amid the
encounter of European and Native American cultures
during the founding of the Jamestown settlement in
1607. Inspired by the legend of John Smith and
Pocahontas, acclaimed filmmaker TERRENCE MALICK
transforms this classic story into a sweeping
exploration of love, loss and discovery, both a
celebration and an elegy of the America that was…and
the America that was yet to come.
Against the dramatic and historically rich backdrop of
a pristine Eden inhabited by a great native civilization,
Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line)
has set a dramatized tale of two strong-willed
characters, a passionate and noble young native
woman and an ambitious soldier of fortune who find
themselves torn between the undeniable requirements
of civic duty and the inescapable demands of the heart.
" …in the beginning all the World was America, and
more so than it is now."
- John Locke, Second Treatise on government (1690)
The New World is an epic adventure set amid the
encounter of European and Native American cultures
during the founding of the Jamestown settlement in
1607. Inspired by the legend of John Smith and
Pocahontas, acclaimed filmmaker TERRENCE MALICK
transforms this classic story into a sweeping
exploration of love, loss and discovery, both a
celebration and an elegy of the America that was…and
the America that was yet to come.
Against the dramatic and historically rich backdrop of
a pristine Eden inhabited by a great native civilization,
Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line)
has set a dramatized tale of two strong-willed
characters, a passionate and noble young native
woman and an ambitious soldier of fortune who find
themselves torn between the undeniable requirements
of civic duty and the inescapable demands of the heart.
In the early years of the 17th century, North America is much as it has been for the previous five thousand
years—a vast land of seemingly endless primeval wilderness populated by an intricate network of tribal
cultures. Although these nations live in graceful harmony with their environment, their relations with each
other are a bit more uneasy. All it will take to upset the balance is an intrusion from the outside.
One is not long in coming.
On a spring day in April of 1607, three diminutive ships bearing 103 men sail into this world from their
unimaginably distant home, the island kingdom of England, three thousand miles to the east across a
vast ocean. On behalf of their sponsor, the royally chartered Virginia Company, they are seeking to
establish a cultural, religious, and economic foothold on the coast of what they regard as the New World.
The lead ship of the tiny flotilla is called the Susan Constant. Shackled below decks in her brig is a
rebellious 27-year-old named John Smith (COLIN FARRELL), sentence and destined to be hanged for
insubordination as soon as the ship reaches land.
A veteran of countless European wars, Smith is a soldier of fortune…though fortune has often turned its
back on him. Still, he is too talented and popular to have his neck stretched by his own people, and so he
is freed by Captain Christopher Newport (CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER) soon after the Susan Constant drops
anchor. As Captain Newport knows—and the colonists will soon discover—surviving in this unknown
wilderness will require the services of every able-bodied man…particularly one of Smith's abilities.
Though they don't realize it at the time, Newport and his band of British settlers have landed in the midst
of a sophisticated Native American empire ruled by the powerful chieftain Powhatan (AUGUST
SCHELLENBERG). To the colonists, it may be a new world. But to Powhatan and his people, it is an ancient
world—and the only one they have ever known.
The English, strangers in a strange land, struggle from the beginning, unable—or, in some cases,
stubbornly unwilling—to fend for themselves. Smith, searching for assistance from the local tribesmen,
chances upon a young woman who at first seems to be more woodland sprite than human being. A
willful and impetuous young woman whose family and friends affectionately call her "Pocahontas"—or
"playful one"—she is the favorite of Powhatan's children. Before long a bond develops between Smith
and Pocahontas (Q'ORIANKA KILCHER in her feature starring debut), a bond so powerful that it
transcends friendship or even romance—and eventually becomes the basis of one of the most enduring
American legends of the past 400 years.
--© New Line Cinema
years—a vast land of seemingly endless primeval wilderness populated by an intricate network of tribal
cultures. Although these nations live in graceful harmony with their environment, their relations with each
other are a bit more uneasy. All it will take to upset the balance is an intrusion from the outside.
One is not long in coming.
On a spring day in April of 1607, three diminutive ships bearing 103 men sail into this world from their
unimaginably distant home, the island kingdom of England, three thousand miles to the east across a
vast ocean. On behalf of their sponsor, the royally chartered Virginia Company, they are seeking to
establish a cultural, religious, and economic foothold on the coast of what they regard as the New World.
The lead ship of the tiny flotilla is called the Susan Constant. Shackled below decks in her brig is a
rebellious 27-year-old named John Smith (COLIN FARRELL), sentence and destined to be hanged for
insubordination as soon as the ship reaches land.
A veteran of countless European wars, Smith is a soldier of fortune…though fortune has often turned its
back on him. Still, he is too talented and popular to have his neck stretched by his own people, and so he
is freed by Captain Christopher Newport (CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER) soon after the Susan Constant drops
anchor. As Captain Newport knows—and the colonists will soon discover—surviving in this unknown
wilderness will require the services of every able-bodied man…particularly one of Smith's abilities.
Though they don't realize it at the time, Newport and his band of British settlers have landed in the midst
of a sophisticated Native American empire ruled by the powerful chieftain Powhatan (AUGUST
SCHELLENBERG). To the colonists, it may be a new world. But to Powhatan and his people, it is an ancient
world—and the only one they have ever known.
The English, strangers in a strange land, struggle from the beginning, unable—or, in some cases,
stubbornly unwilling—to fend for themselves. Smith, searching for assistance from the local tribesmen,
chances upon a young woman who at first seems to be more woodland sprite than human being. A
willful and impetuous young woman whose family and friends affectionately call her "Pocahontas"—or
"playful one"—she is the favorite of Powhatan's children. Before long a bond develops between Smith
and Pocahontas (Q'ORIANKA KILCHER in her feature starring debut), a bond so powerful that it
transcends friendship or even romance—and eventually becomes the basis of one of the most enduring
American legends of the past 400 years.
--© New Line Cinema
© 2003 St. Louis Movie Review Weekly. All rights reserved, except where indicated.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
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