The Hero's Journey, Adventure, and Risk - Movie Review on Themes from "The New World" (2005) - Directed by Terrence Malick

Stephen Alexander Beach 

(2108 Words)

Setting the Story

This movie is shot in classic Malick cinematic style, which I'm not fully sure how to put into words but is completely distinct from every other cinematography style as soon as you experience it. Part of this is a minimal amount of dialogue, with some of it being spoken, seemingly, within the minds of the characters to themselves for the audience, and a narrative which can cut and jump rather quickly, adding to the viewers feel of actually experiencing what the characters are. The New World features incredible shots of the beauty of America in what is supposed to be the early settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. At the same time, the hard life of a colonist is made clear in the rough conditions and possible starvation during the winter inside their camp. 

The story covers the lives of John Smith, Pocahontas, and John Rolfe. John Smith is a prisoner who is given a second chance if he goes to the New World, and is a soldier by trade. He encounters Pocahontas in the fields, and their eyes meet briefly a few times. Smith is then sent with a group of soldiers to explore the river to hopefully encounter a large native village nearby. They are ambushed, and his crew is killed. He is brought before the native chief, and is going to be executed, when Pocahontas throws herself on him to save him, Pocahontas being the chief's favorite daughter. Smith is then semi-welcomed into their tribe, and is allowed to live with them and experience their culture. Smith and Pocahontas begin to fall in love, or at least it is suggested by many romantic scenes of the two spending time together frolicking around the woods. 

Torn Between Loyalties 

One of the themes of the movie begins to appear at this point, as Smith leaves the tribe and goes back to the colonists camp, or he may be considered a deserter. Smith returns, and is questioned as to what he had been doing and his involvement with Pocahontas. The leader of their group is heading back to England, though, and in his absence actually makes Smith the leader in his stead. Soon they face a hard winter where they are starving, but Pocahontas puts her neck on the line by having the natives bring the colonists food and clothing to save them. They all seem to be at relative peace, but things change, though, when, later, Pocahontas secretly gives them corn to grow. The Native chief finds out and realizes that the colonists are not just there to visit, but are going to settle permanently. He banishes Pocahontas from their tribe, and they attack the colonists to try to drive them out. After their battle, Pocahontas is captured by another tribe as she was wandering the wilderness and could not go back to her own people. At this point there is a mutiny, and John is stripped of his leadership and essentially made to be a slave of the other colonists. The colonists do buy Pocahontas back from the other tribe, though, and she comes to live with the colonists and attempts to become like them. 

Pocahontas clearly loves Smith deeply, but he seems torn. In one moment he is caressing and kissing her as they lay together out in the fields and woods. At another moment he seems to be warning her against himself, that he cannot be trusted, and that he is not necessarily a good person. When the commander comes back from England in the Spring, Smith is reinstated and given an offer to charter his own ship and explore the northern coasts. He agrees, and leaves Pocahontas, sailing back to England. He tells a friend to wait a month and then tell Pocahontas that he drowned and is dead. The friend does this, and it sends Pocahontas into a deep depression and mourning. It seems as though she becomes an individual who is completely broken in spirit. Thankfully, she is given an older colonist woman to look after her and to try to teach her English. As more settlers are arriving she meets a man named John Rolfe, whose wife and children had died in England, a tragedy which had sent him looking for a new life. He expresses interest in Pocahontas, who becomes completely docile, and agrees to marry him, seemingly just because he asked her to. After they are married they do have a son, who brings some life back to Pocahontas. 

It is then that Pocahontas overhears some settlers talking about Smith, and she realizes that he is not dead. This throws her into a deep emotional confusion, and she asks Rolfe to allow her to go to England to see him. Rolfe agrees to this because he actually loves Pocahontas and knows that she needs this to find some type of peace in her life. Rolfe is a man of deep faith and prayer, and it is clear that he is the antithesis of Smith, being a man of true speech and dedication, not deceit and selfishness. And so they go back to England and have an honorary meeting with the king and queen. She also encounters Smith, and in doing so realizes that her husband Rolfe is really the love of her life, not Smith. Smith, in selfish style of convenience, propositions her to be with him again, but she sees through it, and wishes him the best as she leaves. He obviously chose his own ambition over her, even though she gave up everything for him. Pocahontas returns to Rolfe and her son, finally at peace, and their love can continue to deepen. Sadly, Pocahontas is stuck down with illness and ends up dying in England. 

Adventure and Risk 

One of the themes that the movie brings up is that of adventure and risk. The movie makes it abundantly clear to the viewer the intensity of the decision to leave Europe and try to start life in the new world. There was a high chance of death during the voyage, mutiny, starvation upon arrival, freezing winters, disease, and attacks from Natives. And yet many took the chance to go on this adventure. Why? Well it is certainly the case that the higher the risk, the higher the reward may be. And so if the colonists survived they could have the opportunity for freedom, land, wealth, and a new start which they would have never gotten in England. 

I worry, though, in a post-pandemic world today, where modern medicine continues to expand the human life expectancy, that risk is looked on as something which is to be eliminated at all costs. This is fundamentally a mistake, though, as I believe that everyone needs to be caught up in an adventure in life that is larger than themselves. To live a life in which one never leaves their comfort zone is likewise a life which certainly also flounders into meaninglessness. And to live a life that focuses on nothing by oneself is the epitome of boring; because as individuals we know that we are not sufficient for our own happiness. 

The second problem with this is that in trying to eliminate the risk from one particular area, one ignores the second and third order effects of denying that risk, which may themselves become greater risks. For example, to never take a risk in life is itself a risk in that it will lead to a life of regrets and missed opportunities. To not leave one's house out of fear of COVID-19 is also to ignore the risks of mental health issues from lack of social interaction, for example. Risk cannot be eliminated, but it can be mitigated. If one must accept risk, then it is wise to choose one's risk, instead of hiding until a risk chooses you. Likewise, one can choose to prepare themselves for the risk and adventure they are going to take, making it safer. 

And if this risk is chosen voluntarily then it becomes what has been called the archetype of the hero's journey. The hero's journey is a template for understanding all adventure in life. It is the realization that I am currently in a state of incomplete fulfillment in some aspect (or maybe in many) and so I cannot stay where I am. There is somewhere out in the unknown which would make my life better. And so I must set out into the unknown and face risk and danger in order to learn, grow, and to find a better version of myself and life. If I do this successfully, and I bring others into this journey to benefit them as well, I have taken on the mantle of the hero. 

And so we must take risks in life. Again, does not mean we should take reckless risks, or not try to mitigate the risk of our actions? No. Rather, we must weigh with prudence the risks that we take. Does the reward justify the risk? And if that is the case, how can I mitigate the risk to put things in my favor? For example, everyday we get into our car and go places, sitting in boxes of metal traveling at high speeds only a few feet away from other boxes of metal going at high speeds. And every year around 40-50,000 people in the US die from vehicle accidents. And so it is actually a somewhat risky proposition to get into a car, once you start thinking about it. And yet, almost everyone says that the reward of freedom and being able to go where you want to go outweighs this risk of danger. And, if we are smart, we try to mitigate that risk by not driving distracted, or impaired, or tired, and by wearing a seatbelt. 

Now, some may then claim that John Smith was, of course, correct to leave Pocahontas, he had to take the adventure offered to him ... but I think that another the movie also makes a more subtle point about adventure, and it is that love and relationships are one of life's greatest adventures. 

Love as Adventure 

To willingly bind oneself to another person, to go where they go and do what they do, to bring children into the world in your collective care and to start a family, to love unconditionally, to ultimately die to oneself for the other ... is this not the greatest adventure we can go on? It is one that may or may not take us to different physical locations, but certainly one that takes the heart and soul of every person into the realms of the spiritual world as we experience joy and sorrow, hurt and forgiveness, trust and dependence, and so on. Over time you hopefully find better parts of yourself as the bad dies away and the virtuous is brought forth. It is also an adventure in knowing that other person as you not only develop a knowledge about their life, but a connatural lived knowledge of constant presence that no one else experiences. 

(I would like to also take a second and make a point that this is also true of our relationship with God. I have heard priests make the comment that "sin is boring," and I think that this is incredibly insightful. What they meant by that was that when we surrender to our sinful passions and indulge them freely, we always end up at the same end state. We end of slaves to our bodily desires of lust, drink, drug, power, and greed. It's the most predictable and repetitive story in history when people chose to go down those roads. And yet, when someone denies the indulgence of the body, and opens themselves to the working of the spirit, and enters into an adventure where they let God lead them in the pursuit of virtue and service to others, it is an adventure which is wide and varied, and we do not know the amazing things that God is going to work through us.)

And yet, it is also true that the adventure of love is fraught with risk. If we do not take this risk wisely, we may find ourselves betrayed and hurt. And so it is of course necessary to prudently weigh the people we get involved with. This I think is the dichotomy between John Smith and John Rolfe in the movie. Pocahontas is enticed by a type of attraction and infatuation by John Smith that swept her into this adventure, but the problem was that he was not a good person. He was not looking to take the adventure of relationship in a serious way, and so she was hurt by this. And yet John Rolfe, who may not have burst onto the scene of her life with the same intensity, yet offered her an authenticity in his love that ultimately she was looking for. 

At the end of the movie there is a very touching line from Pocahontas to John Smith when they briefly reconnect to speak. In her saying goodbye and moving on she says, "Did you find your Indies, John?". Smith traded the opportunity of the adventure of love and relationship with Pocahontas for his career and expedition. And the question is posed to us the viewer, and to him ... was it worth it? Or did he miss out on the real adventure that was being offered to him?

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1 - Malick, Terrence. The New World. (2005) 

2 - Just wanted to mention that some of my insight into the hero's journey came from listening to Jordan Peterson.