THE NEW WORLD 12 TBC

2005 OUT 14 DECEMBER BD EXTRAS Alternate cuts, Documentary, Featurettes, Booklet

On The New World, he actually did start with a script,” says Mark Yoshikawa, one of the four editors who cut together Terrence Malick’s period masterpiece. “There was a full script, written beautifully, as Terry does always. And he started diverging from it about halfway through…”

A retelling of the well-known (if historically dubious) love story between Native American princess Pocahontas and English colonist John Smith (played by Q’orianka Kilcher and Colin Farrell, respectively), Malick’s historical drama strips its characters and story down to the bare bones. Relying instead on non-narrative techniques, the result is both breathtakingly beautiful and profoundly spiritual.

True to form, Malick also resists the urge to shoot for an easy political screed, favouring something more affecting and transcendent. In its 172

minute Extended Cut, The New World stands as the apotheosis of Malick’s unique style, striking a perfect balance between emotion and metaphor.

In addition to that Extended Cut, Criterion’s wonderfully comprehensive three-disc Blu release also includes Malick’s 150-minute First Cut and subsequent 136-minute Theatrical Cut. In addition to the familiar Making Of documentary from the 2006 DVD release, exclusive bonuses include a discussion of the prolonged editing process and a comparison of the three different cuts. Anton van Beek

“Are you absolutely sure you don’t know the lyrics to ‘Colours Of The Wind’?”