"Days of Heaven" is a great example of the art cinema movement of the 1970's. Terrance Malik does a remarkable job capturing the action in a natural state while still advancing the plot in a way that keeps the viewer's attention.
Every shot is well composed and captures the beauty of the Texas backdrop that fuels this film. I really enjoyed how Malik makes the viewer emotionally attached to each character in his or her own way. There is no villain in this film just as Linda says at the end of the film, we all have half devil half angel in us. I thought this really added to the film because it wasn't a typical "good or bad" "strong or weak" "sad and happy" movie. It was hard to watch at times, it was emotional and it was realistic. I know that there was criticism about the abundance of serene images of nature but I thought it was a giant metaphor. The images were also stunning so I think it would be hard to complain about the large amount of them. I'm glad that this film has lasted so well throughout the years as I was not born yet when this movie came out and only saw it this month, but I thought there were some great themes. The characters were timeless because Malik didn't try to make them anything but their time period. There was no elaborate interpretation of the time period, just the plain style and the natural surrounding. I liked that the pace was not so fast and yet I was very attentive when viewing it and it really did offer that "escape" that we all love when watching a great film.
Every shot is well composed and captures the beauty of the Texas backdrop that fuels this film. I really enjoyed how Malik makes the viewer emotionally attached to each character in his or her own way. There is no villain in this film just as Linda says at the end of the film, we all have half devil half angel in us. I thought this really added to the film because it wasn't a typical "good or bad" "strong or weak" "sad and happy" movie. It was hard to watch at times, it was emotional and it was realistic. I know that there was criticism about the abundance of serene images of nature but I thought it was a giant metaphor. The images were also stunning so I think it would be hard to complain about the large amount of them. I'm glad that this film has lasted so well throughout the years as I was not born yet when this movie came out and only saw it this month, but I thought there were some great themes. The characters were timeless because Malik didn't try to make them anything but their time period. There was no elaborate interpretation of the time period, just the plain style and the natural surrounding. I liked that the pace was not so fast and yet I was very attentive when viewing it and it really did offer that "escape" that we all love when watching a great film.