Movie: The New World

I actually went and watched The New World in the cinema, which I was not expecting. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision with a friend, and the time was right. So, $19.50 later, we sat down and watched.

First of all, the movie is extraordinarily slow. There is almost no dialog at all. The movie plays as if in a dream, with music, tree photography, and North American summer night sounds. It is extraordinarily beautiful, and reminds me strongly as to why I love this place.

I did have a few objections.

The Indians are portrayed as if they are Adam and Eve, sinless and pure. No lying, no cheating, no theft, no ownership, and so on. That's all well and good, but it's not what my history books said. It made for a good movie, but I wouldn't want to have any sort of historical knowledge formed by this movie.

The political and religious aspect of this movie smacked of left-wing socialist revisionism. This became especially apparent as the white settlers are shown after Captain Smith returns from the Indians. Their proclamations of a "new start in this Garden of Eden" are ludicrous and assinine to the extreme in this movie. Normally, I would agree, but in the present political climate, mocking the classic statements made by this nation's founding fathers is a really bad idea. We need people to harken back to the purpose for this nation's existance, not reject the founders as cruel, ignorant oafs.

Now, my understanding of the Jamestown settlers is that they were cruel, ignorant oafs. However, this issue is barely noticed. They are shown digging for gold instead of planting food, but the fact that almost none of the original settlers were ever interested in anything other than playing Pizarro is unmentioned. Likewise for subsequent batches of settlers.

There is plenty of historical ammunition with which to assault the Jamestown settlers, but the producers of The New World chose to attack most visibly the important political sentiments that brought some of our ancestors to this country. Some of these statements properly apply more to the Pilgrims, who settled a considerable distance north simply to stay away from the Jamestown fiasco.

Pocohontas is stunningly beatiful. Nobody really knows much about the real Pocohontas, but the actress is a German-born mix of Peruvian and Swiss. Also was 14 years old when the love scenes were filmed.

OK, I think that about wraps it up. I didn't know she was 14 when I went to the movie. Now I feel like a pervert.