The New World (2005)

Terrence Malick's telling of the founding of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas is a story of land, maybe, but of nature, certainly. The travellers are edgy and unsettled, at odds with the native culture that belongs there. The meditative voice-overs add to the tremendous poetry of the work, which has a spiritual, verging on dreamlike, quality. The contrasts in the two cultures, explored through John Smith's (Colin Farrell) interactions with both sides, flows introspectively into that same feeling, while James Horner's score evokes the majesty of the world that exists around them.
Christian Bale's performance bored me, but it may be that he gets more room to develop his character in the extended version(s) of the film, I don't know; the disc that I currently own is the standard 136 minutes edition.

4½ gifted seeds out of 5