A CLASSIC TALE, AN ORIGINAL TAKE : "DAYS OF HEAVEN"

Terrance Malik seems to be more of a contentious issue than I ever thought he would be. I have had conversations at length with friends and neighbors about him, opinion seems to be quite divided. Funny I never noticed, or rather, as I had not seen anything by him, I guess the discussion did touch me at some point but I kinda didn’t notice – if that makes sense. Anyway. Opinion is divided between reckoning he’s a genius and thinking he is stuck up in the sense that he makes films literally no one can understand and what, some people ask, is the point of that? Now, I do tend to agree with people who say films should be understood. I mean what is the point of having a film so elite that no one but you knows what the heck you’re talking about? But what I don’t agree with is the idea that Terrance Malik’s films enter this category. I have now watched three out of his total output – which, I grant you, isn’t as much as some people’s – but trust me when I say Mr. Malik has gone for quality rather than quantity. I mean, if New World was good, Days of Heaven is something else altogether. And story wise, hand on heart; it is NOT hard to understand. His style might not appeal to everyone, but that is a different matter altogether. Days of Heaven takes place in the days of the Great Depression in America. Bill (played by a very young Richard Gere) is wondering round the mid-west with his girlfriend and his sister. Only they don’t want people to talk you see, so he just tells everyone his girlfriend is his sister to. Which suits them fine generally until, on one particular farm, the young, handsome owner falls in love with the girlfriend. Now Bill doesn’t think this is such a bad plan as plans go. He has reason to believe that the young owner of the farm is ill and will die within a year. In fact, this might be the making of their entire little family. The marriage happens and time goes by… But not only does the farmer not die, but other feelings start to take hold that will shake all three of them and their little family to their foundations. As you can see, the topic is pretty much universal. Two men, one woman, betrayal, all that jazz. But Malik’s style of filming takes this very classic story and turns it into something quite extraordinary. Visually speaking, we have a masterpiece here. We have said of other films that we could stop it at a random moment and we had a good chance the frame we got could be a masterpiece, yeah? Well this film takes that sensation to a whole new level. The way the story is told is stunning and poetic, the shots, the music – note especially the opening credits, I loved that way of giving feeling and exposition! I guess what one has to be careful about is the whole risk of getting caught on stylistic details and not recognizing a universal story. For me, it was completely the other way round. The story is a known one (well, when I say known that isn’t to say that Malik doesn’t give it a rather smart twist of its own) but since the story is both known and relatively simple, it gives us ample space to sit back and enjoy the visual masterpiece unfurling before our eyes. Definitely watch this film. The emotion, the visuals… Malik takes a classic love story and turns it into something quite extraordinary. Not to be missed.