Not much new in 'The New World'

Posted: January 11, 2006
by: Jennifer Hemmingsen

The movie depicts the fictional love story between Smith and Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan of the Powhatan Confederacy, during the founding of the Jamestown Settlement in 1607.

LOS ANGELES - There are a lot of reasons not to like Terrence Malick's new movie, ''The New World.'' The melodrama is thick, the internal monologues are endless and the soap operatic overuse of the thousand-yard stare is absolutely maddening.

But probably the best reason is this: The story is tired.

In this latest version of the founding of Jamestown, Malick spins the same tale about the explorer and the explored that white men have been hawking since Shakespeare: he's just dressed it up with historically accurate props.

The production crew says ''The New World'' is not a history, but a fictional love story between Captain John Smith and Matoaka, aka Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, the powerful chief of the Powhatan Confederacy of Tidewater Algonquian tribes. But it's not really a love story, either. With Smith playing the colonizer and Pocahontas the ''good Indian,'' it's actually a metaphor reinforcing the tragic inevitability of the conquering of America - a story we've heard too often already.

The film opens with a voiceover of Pocahontas, played by then 14-year-old Q'orianka Kilcher, saying: ''Come, spirit, help us sing the story of a land ...'' as the camera captures shots of a pre-colonial paradise: grasses swaying in the breeze, happy Native people swimming in clear water. Then come the Englishmen - dirty and sweaty, loutish and loud.

The Natives are fascinated. They jump. They point. They look at each other in awe. They approach these strange people, sniffing around and fingering their clothes. The Englishmen, on the other hand, seem nonplussed. They suffer the attention of the ''naturals'' until Smith (played by Colin Farrell) spies Pocahontas and falls instantly in love. He rubs his eyes. Is she a dream?

No, but she is a myth.

What little we know about Matoaka is pieced together from the historical accounts of others, especially Smith. The real Pocahontas was probably about 10 or 12 when she met the bedraggled colonists in 1607. They were camped on the disease-ridden lowlands near the James River. More than half of them died by the end of the first summer. More were murdered in periodic fighting with the Powhatans. Pocahontas visited the fort during the peaceful times, and Smith befriended her, likely because he knew the land's inhabitants were the key to his settlement's survival.

Whether or not Pocahontas actually saved Smith's life, or if it was ever in jeopardy, is much debated. But Pocahontas often served as ambassador between the two communities, bringing food to the starving colonists and, most controversially, letting them know of her father's plan to ambush the settlement and be rid of them once and for all. In return, the colonists kidnapped her. She converted to Christianity and married a tobacco farmer named John Rolfe, played in the movie by Christian Bale, who later paraded her around England with their infant son to woo potential investors. She died in her 20s, in England.

While the movie pays lip service to these life events, it never delves into Pocahontas' character. Her kidnapping, conversion and move to England are given a cursory nod. Her only real grief is for her lost lover, John Smith.

One of the few things historians agree on in this story is there was no romance between the two. So why is that star-crossed love the crux of this story?

''We chose to go with that powerful myth of this great love affair that couldn't be,'' said Producer Sarah Green.

''This wasn't about telling every bit of that history; this was about explaining love and the consequences of rash actions and letting that metaphor speak in a larger way about our country.''

So how is this movie different than older versions like, say, the Disney epic?

''To be honest, I don't know that I've seen them,'' Green said. ''I only know the story from grade school.''

Not everyone is buying the metaphor.

''It's not my cup of tea,'' said Cherokee actor and activist Wes Studi, who plays Opechancanough in the film.

Studi, who is also a spokesman for the Indigenous Language Institute, said he got involved in the ''The New World'' because of the original script (the final cut of the movie is missing most of his character's development) and the historical research that went into it. The production team hired language expert Blair Rudes to research the indigenous language and use it for much of the film's Native dialogue. The resulting lexicon is being used by the Pamunkee tribe. Unfortunately, it wasn't much used by Hollywood.

''I'm a bit disappointed that so much of that reintroduced language wasn't used in the film,'' Studi said.

''A lot of my scenes are on the cutting room floor.''

Studi said the original script went into much more detail about his character. By the time Malick was done cutting, it was hard to tell if Opechancanough is Pocahontas' brother or her boyfriend. Actually, he was her uncle, and a great leader who went on to lead a nearly successful charge against the colonists.

So what will it take to write a new story about the ''new world''? A different director? Another 400 years?

''What it would take is for me to edit it,'' Studi said.

Introducing Q'Orianka Kilcher

In some ways, starring in a big-budget Hollywood movie hasn't changed Q'Orianka Kilcher's life. She still lives in a Santa Monica apartment with her mother and brothers. She still likes to go camping. But in other ways, the life of the 15-year-old star of Terrence Malick's new film ''The New World'' has changed dramatically.

''In a way, I feel like I've already lived an entire life,'' Kilcher said. ''Playing Pocahontas was such an emotional roller coaster.''

A home-schooled ninth-grader who enjoys history and making her own clothes, Kilcher has a talent for performance. Already, she has played a choir member in the 2000 release of ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas.'' She's performed on television, placing second in the Young Singers category of ''Star Search.'' She's even been known to turn out a mean Brazilian dance on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

But none of those roles has taken - or given - as much as her latest.

When Kilcher began rehearsing for her role, she started at square one.

''Like everyone, I just knew the cartoon,'' she said.

But as she learned more about the history of the famous Powhatan girl, and started acting out her struggles, she suffered along with her character.

''I was very emotionally raw,'' she said. ''I would go home and sometimes cry for four or five hours straight.''

Unfortunately, Kilcher said, many of those scenes - where Pocahontas is grieving for her lost family and lover Capt. John Smith - were cut from the final edition of the film. She hopes they'll reappear on the DVD release.

But the work did help Kilcher reconnect with her Native roots. Her father is a Quechua Indian from Peru. After filming, she traveled to South America to connect with her paternal relatives for the first time since she was a baby.

Now the actor, singer, dancer and teenager has a new dream. Once she's finished working on a CD she's made of original songs she wrote during the filming of ''The New World,'' she wants to start a music school in her father's native country.