| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 94.3

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| Movie Review | The Journal of American History, 94.3 | The History Cooperative

Movie Reviews

Individuals who wish to propose films for review in the Journal should communicate with Thomas Doherty, American Studies Department, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, MA 02454-9110; doherty@brandeis.edu.

The New World. Dir. by Terrence Malick. Prod. by Sarah Green. New Line Cinema, 2005. 150 mins. (New Line Cinema, http://www.newline.com/)
Anyone wanting to know what embattled Virginia tourism officials faced in trying to attract visitors for the state's yearlong 2007 quadricentennial commemoration need only consider the 2006 Annual Commonwealth Prayer Breakfast. Some fourteen hundred people, including the outgoing and incoming governors and much of the state legislature, were greeted at the Greater Richmond Convention Center by an earnest printed message from President George W. Bush. "From the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock," it began, "the men and women who founded this Nation in freedom relied on prayer to protect and preserve it" (Ray McAllister, "A Breakfast of Church-State Togetherness," Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jan. 12, 2006, p. B1). The president (or the White House flunky who writes such things) apparently did not recall that before Plymouth, there had been Jamestown; that someone might have thought to pray there; or that Virginia is central to the American story.	1
Then there is the citizenship test. One may look at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site (http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/100q.pdf) and find a hundred sample questions. Number fifty-three: "Why did the Pilgrims come to America?" Number seventy-three: :Who helped the Pilgrims in America?" Number seventy-four: "What is the name of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America?" (Answers: "For religious freedom"; "The American Indians [Native Americans]"; "The Mayflower.") Virginia? Jamestown? Pocahontas? John Smith? Not a chance. The truth is, even among a people woefully ignorant of their own history, Virginia is American memory's most illustrious backwater.	2
Imagine, then, the euphoria in Richmond when news broke in 2003 that a major Hollywood film about early Jamestown would be made soon in Tidewater Virginia, with known stars (led by Colin Farrell as John Smith) and a distinguished director, Terrence Malick, whose last film, an epic adaptation of James Jones's World War II novel The Thin Red Line (1962), had snared seven Academy Award nominations. The state travel industry hallucinated as it anticipated the theatrical release, dvd sales, commercial tie-ins, massive free publicity, and legions of new Pocahontas buffs. "We could sail the Godspeed to the moon and back," gushed one official, "and never get the publicity we're going to get from this" (Joanne Kimberlin, "Silver Screen Worth Its Weight in Gold—Local Filming Drums Up Interest, Business," Virginian-Pilot, Sept. 8, 2004, p. A1). It all seemed heaven-sent.	3
Except that it was not. A Norfolk film critic, full of excitement, attended the New York City premiere in November 2005. Four critics near him nodded off. "The film drones on," he wrote, "the director avoids ... drama at every turn" (Mal Vincent, "Paradise Lost," Virginian-Pilot, Jan. 20, 2006, p. E1). At the Virginia premiere in Williamsburg, an informed audience politely applauded and filed out in quiet bemusement. At the box office nationwide, the film was stillborn. It failed to open in many markets, even in Virginia. Early exits by bewildered audience members were common. For Virginia's tourism officials, it was back to square one.	. . .

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