First time I have ever seen a Terrence Malick film and I don't know what to say, it was an experience I have never felt before. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of euphoria, I felt like I was in a dream. Every frame, every scene, every piece of dialogue was a line of a beautiful poem. I was overcome with sheer wonder, beauty, sadness, loss and tragedy. This film had it all, but most of all, it felt honest and "pure". Natural sights and sounds of the world without a single glossy shot of artificial CGI to ruin the pure, real beauty of the Earth and it's inhabitants. It's like I was there with them, the editing and camerawork fleeting around so naturally that it all felt real. The fight with the natives was probably one of the most realistic fights i've ever seen because it looked authentic- this is exactly how a fight would be. This film was completely free of all the conventional trademark trappings of a typical Hollywood film, it was done so differently, no cliches or anything. The movie rule book was thrown away. Everything unfolded as it would in real life and shot that way. This was a visual, sensual and sensory wonder, incredibly immerse and unique. The expression and emotion of love and sadness was so real and authentic, it was pure life, heart and soul captured on film- never have I seen such simple purity shown in a film before. The ending is probably the most powerful piece of imagery I've ever seen, and that in itself is simply a 5 minute sequence that is incredibly simple on it's surface, but in context, unbelievably moving.
It's simply an incredible piece of work and I was stunned with beauty as I was watching it. As it ended, I was still speechless. Afterwards I slept and dreamt but none of my dream could even come close to what was presented in this film. Here I am the day after and i'm still speechless, trying to recollect my thoughts of what happened. It's an experience I have never felt before and one I will never forget. Masterpiece isn't even the word. It goes beyond that.
The worst thing is, I will probably never experience anything like it ever again.
