Story of movie The New World 2005 Film :
The New World is a 2005 British-American romantic historical drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick, depicting the founding of the Jamestown, Virginia, settlement and inspired by the historical figures Captain John Smith, Pocahontas of the Powatan Native American tribe, and Englishman John Rolfe. It is the fourth feature film written and directed by Malick.
| The New World | |
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| Directed by | Terrence Malick |
| Produced by | Sarah Green |
| Written by | Terrence Malick |
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| Music by | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Edited by |
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| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $30.5 million |
The cast includes Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, David Thewlis and Yorick van Wageningen. The production team includes director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki, producer Sarah Green, production designer Jack Fisk, costume designer Jacqueline West and film editors Richard Chew, Hank Corwin, Saar Klein and Mark Yoshikawa.
The New World received many award nominations for Lubezki's cinematography, Kilcher's acting and Horner's score. The work was initially met with an only mildly positive critical response, although several critics later ranked it as one of the best films of the decade.
Screenplay
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In 1607, Pocahontas, the spirited and adventurous daughter of Chief Powhatan, and others from her tribe witness the arrival of three ships sent by English royal charter to found a colony in the New World. Aboard one of the ships is Captain John Smith, below decks, in chains. While initially sentenced to death by hanging for his mutinous remarks, once ashore, Smith is pardoned by Captain Christopher Newport, the leader of the expedition.
While the prospects for the settlement are initially bright, disease, poor discipline, supply shortages, and tensions with the local Native Americans (whom Newport calls "the naturals") place the expedition in jeopardy. Smith takes a small group of men upriver to seek trade while Newport returns to England for supplies. While on this mission, Smith is captured by a group of Native Americans and brought before their Chief Powhatan. After being questioned, the captain is nearly executed. He is spared when Pocahontas intervenes and saves his life.
Living among the Native Americans as a prisoner for an extended period, Smith is treated well and earns the friendship and respect of the tribe. Coming to admire this new way of life, he falls deeply in love with Pocahontas. She is intrigued by the Englishman and his ways. The chief returns Smith to Jamestown with the understanding that the English are to leave the following spring, once their boats have returned. Upon his return, Smith encounters the settlement in turmoil. Pressed into accepting the governorship, he finds the peace he had with the Natives replaced by privation, death, and the difficult responsibilities of his new position. Smith wishes to return to his love but dismisses such action. He thinks of his time among the Native Americans as "a dream" from which he has awoken. Their numbers dwindle throughout the brutal winter, and the settlers are saved only when Pocahontas and a rescue party arrive with food, clothing, and supplies.
As spring arrives, Powhatan realizes that the English do not intend to leave. Discovering his daughter's actions, he orders an attack on Jamestown and exiles Pocahontas. Repulsing the attack, the settlers learn of Pocahontas' banishment from her own homeland. They organize a trade so that the young woman can be taken captive and used as leverage to avoid further assaults. Samuel Argall convinces the settlers on a trading expedition up the Potomac River to abduct Pocahontas from the Patawomecks as a prisoner to negotiate with her father for an exchange for some captive settlers, but not the stolen weapons and tools. When Smith opposes the plan, he is removed as governor. After Pocahontas is brought to Jamestown, she and Smith renew their love affair. The return of Captain Newport adds complications. Newport tells Smith of an offer from the king to lead his own expedition to find passage to the East Indies. Torn between his love and the promise of his career, the captain decides to return to England. Before he departs, he leaves instructions with another settler. The settler later tells Pocahontas that Smith has died in the crossing, which leaves her distraught.
Devastated, Pocahontas sinks into depression and still mourns the "death" of her love. Continuing to live in Jamestown, she is eventually comforted by a new settler, John Rolfe. He helps her adapt to the English way of life. She is baptized, receives education, and eventually marries Rolfe and gives birth to a son whom they name Thomas. She later learns that Captain Smith is indeed still alive, news to which she has a violent reaction. Pocahontas finds herself rejecting Rolfe and retreats to her loyalty to Smith, thinking fate had spared his life and they were to be reunited. Rolfe and his family are given a chance to travel to England. Arriving in London and sharing an audience with the king and queen, Pocahontas is overwhelmed by the wonders of this "New World." While there, she has a private meeting with Smith.
The reunion is uncomfortable at times. The state of their present lives shows how much they each have changed. Smith admits that he may have made a mistake in choosing his career over his love for Pocahontas. He says that what they experienced in Virginia was not a dream but instead "the only truth." When asked by Pocahontas if he ever found his Indies, he replies, "I may have sailed past them." The two part, never to meet again. Realizing that Rolfe is the man she thought he was and more, she finally accepts him as her husband and love. Pocahontas and Rolfe make arrangements to return to Virginia. Before they depart, she falls ill from pneumonia and dies.
The film ends with images of the young adult Pocahontas and her young son happily playing in the gardens of their English estate. Rolfe, in a voice over, reads a letter, addressed to their only son about his deceased Native American mother. In the film's closing moments, Pocahontas says, "Mother, now I know where you live" with the film fading out over images of nature in the New World.
- Colin Farrell as Captain John Smith
- Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas (Matoaka, Rebecca Rolfe)
- Christopher Plummer as Captain Christopher Newport
- Christian Bale as John Rolfe
- August Schellenberg as Chief Powhatan (Wahunsonacock)
- Wes Studi as Opechancanough
- David Thewlis as Edward Wingfield
- Yorick van Wageningen as Samuel Argall
- Ben Mendelsohn as Ben
- Raoul Trujillo as Tomocomo
- Brian F. O'Byrne as Lewes
- Irene Bedard as Pocahontas's Mother (Nonoma Winanuske Matatiske)
- John Savage as Thomas Savage
- Alex Rice as Patawomeck's Wife
- Jamie Harris as Emery
- Janine Duvitski as Mary
- Thomas Clair as Patawomeck (Japazaws)
- Michael Greyeyes as Rupwew
- Kalani Queypo as Parahunt
- Noah Taylor as Selway
- Ben Chaplin as Robinson
- Eddie Marsan as Eddie
- Billy Merasty as Kiskiack
- Jonathan Pryce as King James VI & I
- Alexandra W. B. Malick as Queen Anne
Development
Terrence Malick began work on the script for The New World in the late 1970s. After The Thin Red Line, Malick worked on a film about Che Guevara and his failed revolution in Bolivia. When financing had yet to come through, Malick was offered the chance to direct The New World and left the Guevara project in March 2004. Production on The New World was underway by July of that year.
Filming
The film was notable for its emphasis on authenticity, from location, settings and costumes to the use of Native American actors and extras who were trained by Blair Rudes, professor of linguistics at UNC-Charlotte, to speak a form of the extinct Powhatan language (a type of Virginian Algonquian) reconstructed for the film by Rudes.
Principal photography wrapped after three and a half months in November 2004.
Post-production
The film was originally set to be released in November 2005, but release had to be postponed. Malick was still editing the footage he had shot. He is well known for editing his films up until the last minute, often trimming his films and leaving entire characters out of the final print, as is the case with The Thin Red Line. In early December, a 150-minute version was shown to critics for awards season consideration. It was released for a week from Christmas to New Year's Day in two theaters each in Los Angeles and New York to qualify for the Academy Awards.
For the film's wide release, which began on January 20, 2006, Malick re-edited the film, cutting it to 135 minutes, but also adding footage not seen in the first release. He altered some of the film's extensive voiceovers to clarify the plot. Substantial changes were made to the first half-hour of the picture, seemingly to speed the plot along.
Music
| The New World | ||||
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| Film score by James Horner | ||||
| Released | January 24, 2006 | |||
| Label | WaterTower | |||
| James Horner chronology | ||||
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