Change Your Image
v_imdb-99
Reviews
The New World (2005)
Boring movie that misses the mark
I generally have great patience with movies, willing to watch most anything, yet I found myself fast-forwarding to the end of this one because I couldn't take any more random nature scenes.
The interaction between the Native peoples and the early Virginian colonists were in reality fascinating from a historical perspective, including their inability to trade because of poor communication. Yet this picture portrayed Native peoples with all of stereotypes of early relations, without a clear picture of the complexity of their society and their own motivations for dealing with the colonists. Instead we generally see them acting enamored of the colonist's technologies and making some kind of war whoops like this was an old cowboy movie.
The only good thing about this movie: its lead actor. The strength of the actor playing Pocahontas could have driven this movie, yet for some reason, she isn't given enough material to work with except for dancing in the grass with Colin Farrell. Her coming of age and Anglicization could have been very moving, yet this does not come until the end of the film and by then, I just wanted to return the movie.
While some may appreciate the way this film is shot, I found it extremely distracting, with random shots of the forest and water to be jarring and annoying. Had the director cut out such pretentious artwork, and focused on the relationships between the people in the movie (as well as given some like Christopher Plumer more opportunity to act) this piece might have been saved.
Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (2003)
Not bad, but lacking realism
While this was a good attempt to articulate the disaster from a cinematic point of view, it lacked in many areas. First off, the glaring historical errors were bothersome, including the fact the city was lit like a Christmas tree despite strict blackout restrictions. The soap opera like plot lines involving Trixie and the German spy seemed a bit much, aside from the fact she was portrayed so naively when it came to love despite her extensive political knowledge. I also felt the city came off as a backwards two-bit town rather than a metropolis caught in the midst of war. I suppose this is because it was shot in Lunenburg, which is much smaller than Halifax was at the time of the explosion. I also thought the Titanic ploy of linking the past with the old woman who remembers the past seemed a bit trite.
However, the soldiers' plight was well-articulated. Truth is, the first half of the mini-series is quite good, along with the special effects, but the second half degenerates into some melodramatic soap.
The story, however, would have been better had the producers stuck to reality. Truth is stranger than fiction, and what is strange, is the fact the script made up things when the city was abuzz with far more fascinating things.
Before the CBC markets these things as historical series, they should check to make sure they're accurate.