I saw this today and thought the film was great. I couldn’t believe how beautiful Virginia swampland could look.
Despite the paucity of dialog, I had no trouble following the story. I wonder what were the major differences between the Oscar-nomination version and the current one?
I saw it last night and loved it. The virgin wilderness; the culturally-baffling naturals, the pettiness of the colonists… The whole cinema seemed to love it, actually; almost complete silence throughout the film and not a soul left until the credits had finished, which is almost unheard of.
In the cut I saw, the Princess was disowned by her tribe and later bought by the stand-in Governor from another tribe (who had captured her) in exchange for a copper kettle to use as a hostage. She made no attempt to escape because she had nowhere to go - Smith had left for England, her tribe didn’t want her, and any other natives would probably just trade her back to the English again… she made the best of her lot. I’d have to say this wasn’t spelt out that clearly in the film (some unclear snatches of dialogue and a native admiring his new cooking pot) but that’s the impression I got.
When it was first trailed over here, it didn’t appear to be about Jamestown or Pocohantos - I got the impression it was pobably about the failed colony of Roanoke! It was only reading the Dope beforehand that I realised what the setting was…
Technically, the people running the Jamestown Colony were called “President” and not “Governor” in the film. The colony didn’t get a Governor (and it was Smith) until the English realized that it was going to stick. The Jamestown colony was a propietary enterprise at first.
You parbly shouldn’t watch any more Terence Malick movies then.
It’s not like he would have to sit through a lot of movies though.