Review of Days of Heaven (1978) by Kevin N — 19 Oct 2012

Simply extraordinary. Terrence Malick's second feature film is often celebrated as one of the great aesthetic pictures in America's film history and criticized as being without significant dramatic storytelling.

While I couldn't be more in agreement about the movie's visuals, I couldn't disagree more with the second of these two charges. I found the simple story- about a runaway couple and a little girl who take jobs on a rich but lonely farmer's ranch- heartbreakingly compelling, particularly because of the subtlety of its telling.

Aside from a poorly executed narration by Linda Manz that enters the film every once in awhile (the picture's only real fault), Malick approaches this through the simplest of gestures. Two characters might say everything they need to sa through a couple of words, or even a small gesture.

We ache first with one character, then with another, but Malick doesn't seem to have any particular preference about whom we connect with and when- it is only important that all of these characters reflect something tragic about human nature, some deep and hidden recklessness that we're so afraid to acknowledge ourselves.

Aside from the stunning cinematography, this film also has one of the most beautiful scores I have ever heard, courtesy of the great Ennio Morricone. It lines the film's sequences with great pain and lets us know from frame one what kind of story this is going to be.