The New World Synopsis & Movie Info

Colin Farrell plays the adventurous John Smith, who fought in Hungary and endured slavery in Turkey before sailing to America to pursue his destiny there. When this historical drama by Terrence Malick ('Badlands,' 'The Thin Red Line') begins, it is 1607; Smith is 27 years old and one of a group of British colonists hoping to establish a permanent settlement at Jamestown, Va., an uncharted spot on the edge of the New World. At first, Smith's fate doesn't seem promising, as he's been locked up in the brig for insubordination and is awaiting execution once the ship reaches shore. But in this unpredictable wilderness, every able-bodied man is needed, and so the charismatic Smith is set free. While exploring the lands beyond the settlement, he meets the headstrong and beautiful Pocahontas (newcomer Q'Orianka Kilcher), daughter of the powerful Chief Powhatan (August Schellenberg), who governs the land that the colonists are determined to tame. As the relationship between Smith and Pocahontas -- two passionate, fiercely independent people bound by duty, yet also to each other -- deepens, they must survive an attempt on Smith's life, Pocahontas' marriage to another man, and a looming conflict in which the triumph of one culture entails the sacrifice of another. The movie, which features gorgeous cinematography and meticulous attention to historical detail, also stars Christopher Plummer as Captain Christopher Newport and Christian Bale as John Rolfe.