The Parting Time

By Danielle Gorman, with comments by Alexander Vernak and Brian Cohen

Introduction

[1] Director Terrence Malick’s film The New World is first and foremost a love story. Much of the history, clashing of cultures, and reality is lost and replaced with a saga of romantic montages and voice-overs. Malick’s purpose is to dote on this alleged relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas; the film is advertised as “the best historical epic romance since Titanic.” Malick completes his objective through various techniques yet often at the expense of historical accuracy.

Manipulation of Historical Facts

[2] While we can never be sure to what extent Pocahontas actually admired Captain John Smith, it is clear that Malick has altered reality in order to make this love story possible.

[3] Chapter 9 of the film begins with Smith’s return to Jamestown, just before the winter sets in and bad turns to worse. The conditions depicted are the worst we see throughout the film -- men boiling and eating leather belts and even eating the hands off of a deceased friend. The gold-hungry colonists have fallen to eating uncooked food and are referred to by Smith as a “headless multitude.” The children are starving, begging to return to England. In these few minutes, Malick is clearly seeking to depict the “starving time,” or the winter of 1609-1610, during which only 60 of the original 500 colonists survived.

[4] It is obvious that Malick has ignored the feasibility of this scene, during which Jamestown is falling apart under Smith’s command. John Smith left Virginia in October 1609 because of a gunpowder accident, and never returned. Jamestown suffered the “starving time” without his lead. In his Generall Historie Smith describes this injury and his departure in 1609. The powder “tore the flesh from his body and thighs, nine or ten inches square,” and the “Company understood Smith would leave them.” Anarchy ensued and men fought to steal his Commission. In Smith’s account, the “starving time” occurs after his departure and perhaps because of his departure: “Now we all found the losse of Captain Smith.” The “starving time” is recorded as having occurred during the 1609-1610 winter, and it is noted that “there was amongst us, who had they had the government as Captaine Smith appointed, but that they could not maintaine it, would surely have kept us from those extremities of miseries.” Moreover, while the Generall Historie acknowledges Pocahontas as a rescuer of Smith and other colonists several times, there is no mention of her during this brief account of the “starving time.”

The Purpose of This Manipulation

[5] However, it is clear that for the purposes of Malick’s story, Smith needs to be present for this saga. Malick suggests through several techniques that Pocahontas’s primary intent in the “rescue scene” was to see John Smith. Malick’s Pocahontas was not seeking to help the colonists survive the winter; rather, she was, to pun on William Strachey’s label for the young Pocahontas, a “wanton” lover seeking out the man who had not “come to her” lately. The love story would flop if Malick obeyed history, since neither Pocahontas nor Smith would have been present, and Pocahontas by this time would have already been preparing for marriage with Kocoum, a native warrior.

[6] The purpose of the scenes that depict Smith’s return and Pocahontas’s subsequent trip to Jamestown are to make apparent the unreciprocated nature of her love. Set during the “starving time,” the surrounding environment is bleak, hopeless, and marked by death; coincidentally, we see a “chilling” of their relationship. Smith’s unlikely presence during this period makes possible Malick’s objective to show his drifting away from Pocahontas in the midst of a symbolic scene. He is drifting from hope, drifting from his comrades, and drifting out of love, all made possible by the cruel external conditions, such as the collapse of his colony, the pervading madness of his peers, and the life-threatening circumstances.

How Malick Achieves His Goal

[7] With these historical inaccuracies in place, Malick is able to achieve his goal with a few added techniques. While there is significant, albeit little, dialogue, Malick’s visual cues are what make these scenes powerful. We enter the “rescue scene” through the eyes of Pocahontas, walking towards Jamestown. It is interesting to note that the settlement is physically barricaded off from her -- she is distinctly an outsider who does not belong. After experiencing a few moments from her perspective, the camera swings around and allows us to see her -- leading her tribe in dignified garb and demeanor. Her confidence soon falls to anxiousness, as she is frantically looking around the settlement, presumably for Smith. Alas, once we fall back into her perspective, Smith is the first thing we see. With no dialogue or narration, we still immediately know Pocahontas’s intentions. The first words she utters are “Why have you not come to me?”

[8] As Pocahontas has just entered into this foreign environment, Smith also becomes a stranger to her. Smith asks her not to trust him, and we can see through his evasive eye contact that he no longer allows himself to treasure her as he used to. The two end up looking in opposite directions of each other, perhaps symbolic of the stark contrast of their lives. Around them are the Powhatan and English people, commingled but obviously unequal.

[9] It seems clear to Pocahontas that she has failed to win back Smith’s heart. As she walks away, she looks pleadingly back at him, as if hoping he will follow. Despite the gratitude of the settlers, she seems oblivious, and only looks back towards Smith. Her obvious loss of his affections is followed by a frigid winter scene -- dead, bare trees and icy wind -- symbolic of the chilling of Smith’s heart and Pocahontas’s hopes.

[10] Unlike Pocahontas, we saw this coming. In Jamestown, Smith was dealing with horrors, and we saw him begin to distance himself. While he watches Jamestown dissolve from the window of his cabin, and while he still holds on to the feather Pocahontas gave him, Smith asks himself what his intentions are towards her. The literal, physical separation of Smith inside his cabin and the tangible presence of the feather make it clear that he is symbolically trapped in his own mind. The physical and emotional separation Smith begins to feel in the midst of this overwhelming crisis is possible because of Malick’s inaccurate inclusion of him in this scene. (comment by Alexander Vernak)

Conclusion

[11] After this climactic scene, things begin to fall apart. Relations between the Powhatan and English become more strained, and Pocahontas’s love gradually becomes even more futile. To pair the climactic downfall of the Jamestown colony with the climactic turning point of this love relationship is a symbolic and understandable approach. While the basis of the film is largely subjective and inaccurate, its clearly romantic objective makes this acceptable. Malick does not promise historical accuracy, and thus we must take his depiction lightheartedly. Ultimately, this scene is about the delicacy of the human heart, the instability of emotions, and the importance of intentions. Malick does not include this scene in order to enlighten the viewer about the “starving time” of 1609-1610. He is clearly aware of the real history but manipulates these facts for a more dramatic “reel” history. (comment by Brian Cohen)

Comments

Alexander Vernak 4/1/10

Danielle, I would argue that Pocahontas had to see this coming. Her first words to Smith, after all, were “Why have you not come to me?” Surely, as viewers being given both the perspective of Smith and the perspective of Pocahontas, we are able to see the dissolution of his feelings more clearly; however, the way she approached him did reveal that she had some idea that he was no longer dedicated to a relationship with her. His distancing himself can be attributed to the harsh reality of the winter the colony was enduring, but also to his obligation to those people who were suffering. When he was a captive of the native people he was free of his responsibility, which allowed their relationship with one another to flourish. Once he returned to the colony, and especially when things began to become difficult, he chose his responsibility to his people over his relationship with Pocahontas. Before the harsh winter even began he began to come to this realization. “Tell her,” he says, “Tell her what? It was a dream. Now I am awake. I let her love me. I made her love me. . . . I must.” Though the time he spent in the wild with her allowed him to fully express his feelings toward her without inhibition, his re-entrance into the world of responsibility made the freedom of his love toward Pocahontas an unrealistic ideal.

Brian Cohen 4/2/10

Although Danielle has a very valid point in that the history was indeed altered by Malick, the effect that it actually has on the viewer is minimal. While it does allow for the effective progression of the love story subplot, the Jamestown exploit in itself is essentially unchanged because of Malick's artistic license. And so, while Smith was not actually present in the winter of 1609-1610, what significant difference would that have had on this scene? The hardships of the winter were effectively portrayed, despite the one inconsistency of Smith's presence. Yet is this film intended to accurately portray the events of history or to instead serve as a commentary on Native American-European interaction? Thus, because the "reel" history relies on some aspect of a protagonist to serve as a relatable source for the viewer, the inaccurate presence of Smith is by all means tolerable -- but encouraged, even -- to convey the larger message that the film presents.