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Films >> New World, The (2005) >>

The scene log is keyed to the original DVD version not the later one with 30 additional minutes.
0:00:00 Credits
Pocahontas prays to the Great Spirit; credits roll over old maps of the New World.
0:03:21 The Arrival
Indians are swimming through the water; English ships arrive. “Virginia 1607.” John Smith sees the arrival of the new world through a port in his cell; he is a prisoner. Indians rush out, in fear, to see the ships; Pocahontas seems to show no fear, only curiosity. The English come to the land, a portentous wind blows.
0:07:20 Execution
John Smith is about to be hanged in the New World, but Captain Newport releases him, reminds him he has come to the New World “in chains,” and tells him that he must no longer make “mutinous remarks.”
0:07:59 The Colony
Smith walks through the forest; Newport and the crew establish their beachhead, seeing no need to go further now. Newport says they must make friends with the Indians in case their crops fail; they “will be obliged to trade with them.” The English begin to build their community; the Indians watch from the forest.
0:09:38 First Contact
The English and Indians meet in a field. Pocahontas watches with her brother. Smith notes in a voice-over that “The savages often visit us kindly.” Newport decides to build a fort and begins the work of the colony. The Indians are curious about the work. Smith begins his interior monologue: “How many lands behind me?”
0:12:43 Pocahontas Sees Smith
Pocahontas plays in a field with her brother. Smith walks through the field and sees her. She approaches him. Her brother takes her away before they can meet. The first fade-out happens, a brief one.
0:14:05 Justice
Someone has been stealing food and alcohol; his ear is cut off. Two Indians are captured for “spying.” An Indian who grabs a hatchet in the fort is shot; the shot rings through the fort and Indian village. Smith punishes the shooter in front of the Indians to prevent trouble. Newport announces that “we have lost the favor of the Naturals.” He says the colony is in trouble -- no food, illness, “we may as well be shipwrecked.” He decides to send an envoy to Chief Powhatan to see if he can be persuaded to trade with him. He will go back to England. Ratcliffe will be in charge. Smith is nominated and is sent to Powhatan.
0:16:13 Smith's Utopia
The Indians inspect a giant cross erected by the colonists. Smith begins his expedition with a boat of men, up the river. Smith continues voice-over, while scenes of the men working on the boat are juxtaposed with scenes of virgin territory: “We shall make a new start, a fresh beginning. Here the blessings of the Earth are bestowed upon all. None need grow poor. Here there is good ground for all, and no cost but one's labor. We shall build a true commonwealth. Hard work and self-reliance our virtues. We shall have no landlords to wrack us with high rents or extort the fruit of our labor.”
0:18:49 Smith's Capture
The boat can't go further. Smith continues his utopian dream while the men inspect an Indian camp. They hear the Indians; the men are lost and afraid. Their Indian guide runs away; Smith lets him go. Smith takes a canoe and three men (plus an Indian guide) further up the river. They take to land and separate. They are attacked. Battle ensues. Smith is captured.
0:22:06 The Compass
Smith tries to awe his captors with a compass.
0:22:55 On Parade
Not awed, the Indians blindfold Smith and hustle him back to their village, drawing a boisterous crowd on the way.
0:23:33 Powhatan
Smith is brought in front of Powahatan, where he must field a series of questions.
0:25:00 Gunpowder
Smith attempts to use gunpowder, like the compass, to impress the assembled surly mob of Indians at Powhatan's court.
0:25:23 Attempted Murder
Unimpressed, a gang of Indians rush at Smith to beat out his brains with clubs.
0:25:45 The Rescue
The screen goes dark at the moment of expected impact, and when it comes live again, Pocahontas rescues Smith and negotiates with her father Powhatan.
0:26:15 The Ritual
While leaders debate and discuss in the background, Smith is surrounded by a group of women and becomes the center of some sort of ritual of life.
0:27:09 Feeling Confident
Smith is carried out in celebration, while the Indian leaders, following behind, assure themselves that, if things go wrong, they can always kill the English.
0:27:33 Smith with the Indians
Indian daily life: picking corn, shooting practice. Smith is among them in the village.
0:28:13 Language Lessons
Smith and Pocahontas teach each other their respective languages. They begin to fall in love. He is overwhelmed by her beauty. There is a long visual montage. “All loved her.”
0:31:41 War Games
Smith takes part in Indian martial games, seemingly becoming one of them.
0:32:30 Edenic
Smith voice-over: “They are gentle, kind, loving, lacking in all guile and treachery...they have no jealousy, no sense of possession.”
0:33:18 Love Play
Smith and Pocahontas play footsie and share intimate, quiet moments. Love grows.
0:34:24 Promise to Powhatan
Powhatan makes Pocahontas promise to put her people above all else, even her heart. Powhatan says he’s not one of us. Pocahontas tries to incorporate him by, for instance, marking his chest.
0:34:55 More Love Play
Quiet moments. Lovers’ gazes. Lovers’ touches. On the beach. Pocahontas gives Smith a feather from her hair. “Love.” Third blackout. In the water. “There is only this; all else is unreal.”
0:37:20 “Give me a sign”
Pocahontas prays to “Mother” about her love for Smith. “A God he seems to me.” “I will be faithful to you.” “Two no more . . . One.”
0:40:27 Separation
Powhatan sends Smith back to Jamestown, telling him the English are to leave by spring. They are seen saying goodbye while Smith’s voice-over recounts Powhatan’s conditions. Pocahontas has saved him from death again. She silently pledges her love in sign language. She is deliriously happy.
0:42:01 The Return
Smith's blindfold is taken off; he is at Jamestown. Fourth blackout. He enters and sees a changed colony: degradation, starvation. The English are shocked to see him. Wingfield talks about Smith's trial, held while he “deserted.” An argument ensues as Wingfield is accused by others of keeping good food for himself, allowing others to starve. Wingfield makes a move to shoot Smith and is shot by another, killed. The men decide Smith should lead them.
0:46:25 “I made her love me”
Smith feels guilt about Pocahontas. In voice-over muses that it was a dream and that he made her love him.
0:47:38 Jamestown's Fall
Smith takes charge, telling all to dig a well. He makes all work, even the so-called English upper classes. Men dig for gold while they starve. Smith tells them they chase a dream. The men are going crazy. Winter hits. They are eating their belts. Men die. Cannibalism.
0:50:58 Winter Dreams
Smith muses on Pocahontas amidst the chaos of Jamestown. “What are your intentions towards her?”
0:52:17 Pocahontas Rescues Jamestown
Indians, led by Pocahontas, arrive at the fort with food and supplies for the colony. Pocahontas wonders why Smith has not come back. Smith tells her not to trust him. They part. The men of the fort bow down to Pocahontas in gratitude as she leaves, but she is saddened by Smith, wondering who he really is.
0:55:57 An Uneasy Peace
Spring. Indians and Englishmen seem to bear with each other, trading. They have learned about money. Smith can only think about Pocahontas.
0:57:30 “Tell me, my love”
He asks if she wants him to come back with her to the village and live with her. She says he is free. He again, in a voice-over, talks about starting over and giving up the name of Smith.
0:59:18 The Warning
Indians discover the Englishmen's cornfields and realize they do not intend to leave. Powhatan asks Pocahontas who gave the Englishmen the seed to plant the fields. She runs back to Jamestown and asks Smith to run away with her. She tells him the Indians are going to attack. She asks him to make peace with Powhatan. He can’t see a place for them to live if he goes with her, and he asks her to come into the fort. She runs back into the forest.
1:02:37 The Attack
Indians approach Jamestown in the early morning. The Englishmen are ready, shooting first. Battle ensues outside of the fort. Pocahontas walks away while the battle takes place. Smith fights well but is distracted. The Englishmen's superior firepower wins.
1:05:40 Death
Pocahontas comes upon her brother dying; the medicine man is trying to save him. They embrace. He dies. Pocahontas is chased and captured by the Indians.
1:06:20 More Battle
Indians and Englishmen are trying to come to an agreement/cease fire. A nervous Englishman shoots an Indian, and the battle starts again. The English retreat into the fort. Smith voice-over: “Lord, turn not away thy face.”
1:08:10 Pocahontas's Banishment
Pocahontas is brought before her father. He cannot find it in his heart to kill her, so he banishes her instead. The Indians are tearing out the crops of the English.
1:10:00 Mutiny
Smith is told that Pocahontas is being offered for sale to the colonists. After he refuses to “buy” her, his love is exposed, and he is stripped of presidency by Argall.
1:13:00 Ignominy
Smith being whipped and taunted. They plan to send him out to hew fresh timbers and then hang him by the ankles at night.
1:13:54 Kidnapped
A copper kettle is exchanged for Pocahontas.
1:14:20 Towards Jamestown
Pocahontas voice-over on trip to Jamestown: “Oh Mother, has he sent this ship for me?” Argall: “Conscience is nuisance.”
1:15:32 Jamestown
They arrive at Jamestown, and Pocahontas learns that Smith has been deposed. The men stare at her.
1:17:00 New Housing
Pocahontas is installed in the dead reverend’s house, where she curiously checks out the candles, books, etc.
1:18:00 The Ships Return
Captain Newport and men return from England. Cannons are firing, the Indians sue for peace, and there is cheering. Pocahontas wanders around looking confused.
1:18:55 Reunion
Pocahontas finds Smith chopping wood. “We should have stopped before it was too late.” “Who is this man?” Love again in the forest.
1:21:30 A New Chance
Newport stops Smith as he works, frees him from servitude, and tells him he has the chance to lead his own expedition, looking for a passage to the Indies.
1:23:00 Changing Clothes
Mary, a servant, appears. We see her washing and dressing Pocahontas, who has difficulty with her new shoes.
1:24:10 Newport Speechifying
Smith listens to Newport exalting the Jamestown mission in the New World as the camera pans over the sad reality. “Eden lies about us still.” “We are the pioneers of the world.” “God has given us the promised land.”
1:25:24 “I belong to you”
Another meeting between Smith and Pocahontas. She gambols in the field. He warns her from/about him.
1:26:55 Jumping Ship
Smith thinking about leaving. His decision is made obvious by his overturning of a desk. Blackout.
1:27:17 “Tell her I’m dead.”
Smith tells someone to wait two months and then tell Pocahontas he’s dead.
1:27:33 Abandoned
Pocahontas sleeping while Smith leaves. She wakes up, finds him gone, wreaking emotional havoc. The ship plys the waves, taking Smith away.
1:29:00 “A pack of lies”
We see Pocahontas learning English from Mary and receiving advice “to forget about him,” for he told her a pack of lies.
1:29:36 The Bad News
Pocahontas is told that Smith is dead, intercut with scenes of native women.
1:30:15 The Living Dead
Pocahontas in mourning, wiping ash on her face, absolutely distraught, staggering about the fort. Blackout.
1:31:00 Smoking Them Out
The colonists set fire to the Indian village, and we see the Indians forced out, walking through the smoke.
1:32:30 Lights Out
Powhatan praying as his culture fades into darkness. Blackout.
1:33:18 Rolfe Shows Interest
John Rolfe starts to view Pocahontas, as she gives a man in the stocks something to drink, as she wanders aimlessly around the fort, as she lifelessly does her work. He sees her unfinished, broken, lost.
1:35:13 Rolfe Initiates
Rolfe and Pocahontas walk together; she listens while he asks her how he can see more of her.
1:35:42 Reach Like the Tree
Mary tells Pocahontas she can get over the loss of Smith, using the example of an injured tree still reaching for the light.
1:36:12 Educating Pocahontas
Rolfe tutors Pocahontas. She begins to pay attention to him.
1:37:24 Baptizing Pocahontas
Pocahontas baptized, taking the name Rebecca.
1:37:36 The Culture of Tobacco
The colonists leave gifts for her, since she is leaving to be in fields. The people are sorry at her going. “She understands the culture of tobacco.”
1:37:57 Planting
In the fields, they plant with dead fish. Rolfe tries to understand her. He bonds over their similar losses.
1:39:19 “Are you kind?”
Rolfe and Pocahontas on a quiet amble. “Who are you?” he thinks. She tells him, “I like grass” and asks pleadingly “Are you kind?” They share a first tender embrace.
1:41:25 Pocahontas Happy
Pocahontas chasing grasshoppers, patting the ox.
1:42:08 Rolfe Proposes
In the rain, Rolfe proposes. Question of where to live. Pocahontas accepts. “If you like,” she says. He claims that someday she will love him.
1:44:09 Pocahontas Married
Newport presides. Rolfe kisses the unanimated bride
1:44:33 Scenes of Domestic Life
Their cabin in snow, Pocahontas in a tree, Pocahontas praying to great spirit, the couple sowing seeds, Rolfe bartering with an Indian, washing Rolfe’s back. “Mother, why can I not feel as I should?”
1:46:14 Love Play
They laugh as Pocahontas falls in the muck. She struggles but starts to thaw toward him. “He shelters me.”
1:47:29 Consummation
Their baby is miraculously born. Happiness. Contentment.
1:47:59 Pocahontas as Mother
Pocahontas plays with her son, who appears to be two years old. She shows him cows and ducks. Her voice-over shows her still struggling, however.
1:48:45 Surprising News
Rolfe tells her, “We’ve been invited to England.” A royal audience in your honor.
1:49:09 Smith Again
Smith, wistful on the harsh, cold, rocky, barren shore of New England. So much for his ambition.
1:49:50 More Surprising News
Pocahontas learns that Smith is alive.
1:50:52 What Now?
Pocahontas is shown in deep thought near the cabin.
1:51:27 Smith Comes Between Them
“I cannot do that,” Pocahontas tells Rolfe as he amorously approaches her. She claims that she is “married” to Smith. Blackout.
1:52:30 To England
Getting on the boat to England, Pocahontas quietly walks around Rolfe. “There is that in her I shall not know,” he says, in voice-over.
1:53:37 Powhatan’s Eyes
Tomocomo tells Pocahontas that her father sent him and that he is to put a notch on a stick for every Englishman he sees, and that he hopes to meet the God the whites speak about.
1:54:13 First Contact
The arrival at the docks, where the Indians walk around in wonder. Pocahontas is bowed to, and seems to like it. Shots of birds and fish in the marketplace. Pocahontas rides with her head out the carriage window. They wander through the streets. In a courtyard, people meet her in wonder, and vice-versa. Black man. Beggar. Blackout.
1:56:28 Pocahontas at Court
Audience before the king and queen. A page reads an announcement about “The New World’s Princess.” A bald eagle and a caged raccoon are displayed. Pocahontas is the center of curious gazes.
1:58:18 The English God
Tomocomo stands before a stained glass window.
1:58:36 Another New World
In a scene of manicured trees and manor houses, Tomocomo appears in wonder, feeling the leaves, curious.
1:59:28 Preparation
Anticipating John Smith’s arrival, Pocahontas combs her hair while Rolfe watches.
1:59:46 He’s Here
Smith arrives on horseback.
2:00:05 “I thought I could make you love me”
Before she goes to meet Smith, an understanding Rolfe admits that he can’t force Pocahontas to love him. “You are the man I thought you were, and more.”
2:01:09 “Did I make a mistake in coming here?”
The somber meeting between Smith and Pocahontas. “You knew I had promise, didn’t you?” he says. She says yes. Then asks, “Did you find your Indies, John?… You shall.” “I may have sailed past them.”
2:05:41 “My husband”
Pocahontas in a tree. Rolfe apprehensive. Pocahontas comes back to Rolfe. She wants to go home. They kiss. Pocahontas with a warm smile.
2:07:30 At Last
The couple plays with their son. Pocahontas free and happy. She says, “Mother, now I know where you live.”
2:09:06 Pocahontas Dies
In a voice-over, Rolfe reads a letter to his son about his mother “Rebecca” dying. Pocahontas is shown dying in bed. Rolfe cries. Scenes of the son wandering alone in England are inter-cut. Shots of empty bed, an Indian, Pocahontas joyously running and doing cartwheels in England.
2:10:30 Back to the New World
Rolfe on boat lifting his son up as they leave England. The boat returns to America. Shots of grave, water, forest, trees.
2:11:55 Ending credits
With quiet forest sounds.
EJG logo Edward J. Gallagher
Lehigh University Digital Library