Review of Days of Heaven (1978) by Alvin Y — 06 Sep 2011

Days of Heaven, Great Movies.

Days of Heaven is truly a unique and a beautiful movie, in a class by itself. I had that opinion the first time I saw it on DVD and still feel the same way after rewatching it after *The Tree of Life*. It's been at the best films list of the 1970's, if not, the most beautiful, poetic, grandeur piece of filmmaking.

It's very dream-like, a film that I can always think of even when it is finish. The cinematography alone makes this movie worth watching repeatedly to it's extravagant scenery of Texas ranch. Now that we all have access to a widescreen DVD version of this, the scenes are even more breathtaking and much more spiritual like you are actually on in it. The same concepts can be used when discussing the soundtrack, a haunting music score that gets better and better each time one views this film. In fact, lately it's the music more than anything else I miss when I go periods without viewing this film and it is so memorable that makes the film more unforgettable and beloved. The story is simple and is very well explained by other characters here. I also find the whole narration of the movie to be extremey unique and touching, an unusual insight into the characters of the film and the thoughts of the little girl, who does the narrating. The characters that continually fascinate me are Brooke Adams, as the lead female, and Robert J. Wilke, as the farm foreman. I guess it's their faces that intrigue me. Adams' down-turned mouth and sad look and Wilke's wrinklies catch my attention every time. And also Richard Gere, at it's best too. The story is interesting, generally low-key but with a few quick violent scenes that are quite memorable. More than that, one gets an incredible feel for the land and for the migrant workers of that time period. Another nice aspect of this film is the very small amount of profanity.

But as many plauses as the story boasts, that haunting music and those incredible visuals are what drive me back for more. And that is why, Days of Heaven, is truly a great movie. And again, Malick doesn't make cheap silly predictable cliched love story here, instead he focus more about the true beauty of nature with grace and redefine it with it's characters.