Terrence Malick's The New World is a beautiful, hypnotic film based on the legend of Pocahontas, a native American princess in the early 17th century.
The lyrical opening sets the tone of the movie: ripples spread across the flat water as three British ships approach the untamed land of America.
The native Americans, particularly the beautiful Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher), peer at the Englishmen with curiosity.
Thanks to Malick's good eye and love of nature, we are then treated to striking scenes of the Virginian woodlands and meadows as the tired and hungry English settlers, led by Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell), travel up the river in search of food.
Smith is captured by suspicious tribesmen, but he is saved from execution when Pocahontas pleads for his life.
He becomes Pocahontas' tutor, teaching the princess English while learning about her culture. Scenes of their carefree days in the woods have a dreamlike quality thanks to the outstanding work by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.