Review of The New World (2005) by Douga. — 08 Feb 2006

My gut reaction to this film was to think that the emperor has no clothes, but on reflection, that's not the problem at all. In fact, this emperor wears only the finest; problem is, he has no heart.

I think I understand what those people are saying who rated this movie highly, but disagree with the implication that it's some kind of high "art" or "poetry" and you're somehow more sensitive or intelligent for liking it.

Yes, the cinematography is beautiful; okay, it's not resorting to a maudlin Disney story line; all right, some of the actors are a talented, well-costumed lot; and fine, I suppose it's artfully rendered - if your taste in art runs to pretentious, long-winded tripe with nothing remarkable to say.

This film had no significant plotline or story arc; no meaningful thematic development or tension of any kind; no depth of character or engaging signs of inner character conflict (hence the painful and repetitive postures and gesturing).

..I could go on, but basically I'm saying this film had none of the attributes of true art or entertainment, other than its aesthetic beauty. This was a pretty picture, but true art is much more than that.

Nor was it a "symphony"or "poem", for these forms have THEMES. Look up"art" in the dictionary; it talks about "human creative skill, as opposed to the work of nature.

" If you want to talk about high art, think Shakespeare, which has all of the elements this film lacked. Anything I got from this film, I really could have got from looking at a tree in the park - except the tree would ultimately have been more satisfying.

This was the worst movie I've seen in a very long time, whether you're looking for entertainment or art. And even if it was only the "ignoramus" hockey fans who walked out, I wouldn't sneer at them.

The "riffraff" were riveted at the Globe theatre in Shakespeare's day. And no, in case you're wondering, I don't watch hockey, and prefer good drama to action movies. Finally, as a Native person, I find this movie continues a long Hollywood tradition of reducing our whole existence to the level of props in some self-important white man's deluded frontier tale.

It may be a somewhat sympathetic and well-meaning attempt, but, as with the B movies of the 50's, it does not even remotely approach an intelligent depiction of the unique genius of our societies, or our complexity as people.

My sole sorry comfort was that all the Europeans in the movie suffered the same shallow fate.