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Terrence Malick is one of the greatest filmmakers alive,
and after Sergio Leone he is my second favorite director
of all time. In his career that spans almost 40 years he
has only made four feature length films. What I love about
Malick's films is that they are poetry; they break all the
conventions of filmmaking. When you sit down to watch a
Terrence Malick film you are readying yourself for an experience.
The way he examines human nature in every single one of
his films is extraordinary. Every one of his films also
deals with man's impact on nature and he slowly erases the
lines between sanity and insanity. His directorial debut
was with Badlands starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek;
a haunting story of lovers on the run from the law. His
next film is still undoubtedly one of the most moving pieces
of cinema ever created, Days Of Heaven. * * *
Days Of Heaven tells the story of Bill (Richard Gere)
and Abby (Brooke Adams); two young people in love trying
to make ends meet and find work. The two go around pretending
to be brother and sister as to protect themselves from the
outside world. At the beginning of the film Bill gets in
a tussle at the steel mill and accidentally kills his boss.
Now Bill, Abby and Linda (Linda Manz) hop a train to go
work on a farm to harvest wheat. The story is told through
Linda's perspective. Linda is the real sister of Bill and
she is barely a teenager. It's interesting that Malick lets
the story unfold through the eyes of an innocent child;
I think it gives complex situations in the film a simpler
point of view. As the story unfolds and they work on the
farm Bill finds out that the owner of the farm is dying
of a terminal illness. The farmer is played by Sam Shepard
in his first major role. Bill hatches a plan for Abby to
get the farmer to fall in love with her. That way when he
dies he will leave all his assets to her and they will become
rich. As can be imagined after a full year passes the farmer
is still alive and tensions begin to grow that leads to
an inevitable climax.* * *
The number one aspect of this film that garners so much
attention is the cinematography. The story goes that Nestor
Almendros started the picture but about a fourth of the
way through he had to leave due to a prior commitment. Cinematographer
Haskell Wexler came in and shot the rest of the picture
according to Almendros's standards, but in the end didn't
receive any credit on the film. Almendros went on to win
the Oscar for Best Cinematography that year. All quarrels
aside one can't deny the brilliance of the film's photography.
Every frame is crafted with absolute detail that in some
cases will give you goose-bumps. They shot most of the film
during "magic hour"; that twilight period right before the
sun sets. It creates a perfect backlight that if framed
correctly can create haunting silhouettes. It seems as if
there is always a ring of fire on the horizon that is slowly
getting closer, which it in fact does. During the scene
of the locust plague a lantern breaks in the wheat fields
and the entire farm erupts into flames. It symbolizes rage
in the characters as tensions mount, but I don't want to
spoil anything for those who want to experience the film
for the first time. All in all this film is a visual feast
that will stay in your mind's eye. * * *
Since the film is extremely light on dialogue it relies
on two major elements. Cinematography being the first thing
I discussed and Ennio Morricone's score being the second.
Morricone's incredibly dark and foreboding score is a haunting
masterpiece. It underscores the human conflicts being depicted
in the film and of course has tragedy spelled out plain
and simple with the tone right from the beginning. The first
time I saw the film I cried because of the subtle power
of this Oscar nominated score. The haunting elements of
it will resonate with you for quite some time, and honestly
this score is the major source of emotion in the film. It
accentuates Malick's themes perfectly. * * *
So, what is this film ultimately about? One could spend
all their time writing about a Terrence Malick film and
every word could be wrong and right at the same time. His
films need to be experienced, because it is absolutely impossible
to try to describe how his films affect you. In my head
I saw this film as an exploration of love and how human
nature is a flaw that can allow our emotions to consume
our rational side. If you've seen The Thin Red Line, Badlands
or The New World then you should have a good idea of what
Days Of Heaven will be like. It's a surprisingly short film
at only 94 minutes, especially if you compare how long his
last two films were. Thanks for sticking with me for this
entire review/analysis. I really like to do more than the
average critique when it comes to important films like this.
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Image & Sound:
When you buy a Criterion DVD you are paying for perfection.
This remastered version was supervised and approved by Terrence
Malick. The original 1.78:1 aspect ratio is maintained exactly
with absolutely zero flaws in the transfer. The new high
definition transfer was created from a new 35mm interpositive
struck from the 35mm A/B roll original negative. Thousands
of instances of dirt and scratches were removed and the
resolution is magnificent because they mastered the DVD
at the highest bit rate possible. I just wonder when Criterion
is going to make the move to Blu-ray? * * *
A brand new Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track was created
for this release. The old track was tossed and this new
track was remastered at 24-bits from the original 4.1 magnetic
tracks. Every effort possible was implemented to reduce
clicks, hiss and crackle. This is fantastic, I love Criterion
so much.
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