Left Field Cinema

“The Magic Hour” also known as “The Golden Hour” are the two hours of the day when the sun is setting and rising; painting the sky, ground, objects and people with a sort of golden yellow hue, pronouncing shadows as the light hits everything at an angle rather than the blanket of light we usually witness throughout an average day. Softening light and enhancing colours through mother natures own form of diffusion. “The Magic Hour” will improve even a mundane image through what are considered to be idyllic and beautiful lighting conditions. No filmmaker has ever captured the intoxicating beauty of “The Magic Hour” as exceptionally as director Terrance Malick did with cinematographer Nestor Almendros in the 1978 production of Days of Heaven. Malick’s second film before his twenty-year hiatus from film making, but even the stunning beauty of his third film The Thin Red Line can not match the majesty of this most gorgeous of American films. This ranks amongst the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful film ever made. It may be clichéd to describe the imagery as such, but it is no exaggeration to say that every single frame of picture in the film is a potential still you could hang on a wall. Magnificently painterly and extraordinary to look at, but its dream like sensibilities are not limited to imagery and its beauty as a film goes beyond cinematography – it extends to every facet of the film – music, editing, pacing, plotting, and emotions.

The story is incredibly simple, lovers Abby (played by Brooke Adams) and Bill (played by Richard Gere) and Bill’s little sister Linda (played by Linda Manz) head south away from the rough industrial hub of Chicago to find a better life for themselves in Texas working on a farm. Along with hundreds of other workers they plough and harvest the crops for the Farmer (played by Sam Sheperd), it is revealed to us and the trio of workers that the Farmer is terminally ill and has around a year to live, it then becomes apparent that he is rather taken with Abby. Realising the potential in this situation Bill poses as Abby’s brother and encourages her to give the romance with the Farmer a chance. The idea being that in a years time the Farmer will die of natural causes and Abby, Bill and Linda will inherit the farm and all the wealth that comes with it. Over the course of this year the Farmers suspicions are raised first by the untrusting nature of his foreman and then by the way Abby and Bill sometimes interact, but events take and unexpected turn as Abby begins genuinely falling for the Farmer and Bill becomes increasingly jealous of their union despite it being his plan for them to get together in the first place. Malick scrapped his own screen-play during the production and decided to allow the performers to “find” the story in their own way. The finished film differs significantly from the original shooting script as a result. A consequence of this move on Malick’s part is that Days of Heaven has a passive narrative and passive narrator. Events seem to occur independently from the overall story. The arrival of the locusts in the films second half for example is not hinted at or previewed in any form it simply happens by chance, the fact that the destruction the locusts bring mirrors the destruction the central characters have brought on themselves means that it does not feel out of place within the story. The arrival of the flying circus is actually the arrival of destruction as this is when the Farmer begins to suspect the deception, but the event often occurs without any influence from preceding events. Malick cuts the film together with Editor Billy Weber in a rolling montage like style, as with his later works The Thin Red Line and The New World, the scenes are short, the dialogue is sparse, but the imagery is bold. This is in all likelihood a by-product of Malick’s “find the story” approach; it feels like there is a wealth of scenes and sequences which have been cut to the bare minimum to keep the film going. The narrative rolls forward at an accelerating pace, but the fragmentary nature of individual scenes and the lose unconnected nature of narrative strands hints at a fuller world outside of the ninety minutes we are given with these people. This is Malick’s gift, but also his curse, the fleeting nature of the film combined with the stunningly beautiful images gave cause for some critic’s negative reception of the film upon first release. J.McGettigan expands this point in the essay; Days of Heaven and the Myth of the West:

“This is possibly the most breathtaking depiction of the Western United States even seen on screen; Texas has never looked more lovely (and rightly so, for the movie was filmed in Canada). Critics made much at the time of the film’s release about its pictorial beauty, and many considered Days of Heaven pretty empty. Stanley Kauffmann’s review in The New Republic complained that ‘as the film fails to grow and as the stunning pictures continue to flow, the Beauty becomes like a lavish blanket on a coffin…” (P56)

What Kauffmann may have missed in his review is that the film is a tragedy in the truest sense of the word, the story vividly grows as the best laid plans go horrendously wrong; Bill loses the love of Abby through his pursuing of wealth. But his abandonment of that pursuit comes too late as the Farmer’s suspicions are tipped too far to be reversed, the tragic irony being that at the point where the Farmer realises how he’s been deceived, the deception has already concluded. The ensuing violence will not solve any of their problems and will in fact reap damages which none of them could foresee. There are no cleansing powers in the conflagration which is to follow, no purity to be found in the flames of anger as the Farmer burns all of his crops not to stop the locusts but to express his rage at the pain he’s been exposed to by the treachery of those closest to him.

All four of Malick’s films have thematically common ground, but Badlands and Days of Heaven in particular have much in common despite being superficially quite distinct from one and other, both films examine the differences between the rich and the poor, both feature sudden and unexpected bursts of violence, both have the love of a man and a woman at their core and both feature young female narrators. There is narration in all of Malick’s films and whilst it is often used to give insights into individual characters thought processes and emotional truths here it serves an entirely different function as Linda is not a significant enough character to justify an exploration of her own thought process’, instead she acts as an interpreter of events (whilst being caught up in them herself in a less significant way to Abby or Bill). The narrator in this case (as with Badlands) is an innocent surrounded by events that are for the most part beyond her control. A. Latto expands this point in the essay; Innocents Abroad: The Young Woman’s Voice in Badlands and Days of Heaven:

“Categorising Linda is problematic: we are given little access to her previous life and this cognitive restriction, together with Linda’s disjointed and dispersed commentary and her marginal role in the action, hardly encourages the spectator to identify with her… We recognise her type, align ourselves with her situation and are even given access to her thoughts, but by placing her on the outskirts of the narrative, rarely even focusing on her directly, the spectator is deflected from full identification or allegiance. Yet Linda’s quirky personality, her-off beat observations and her empathy with others intrigues us. Her uneducated speech, full of grammatical errors, still engages the listener in its direct approach… Linda’s role is that of a commentator of the events she witnesses and an interpreter of the characters’ feelings. She is the mediator between spectator and story, leading us through it as best she can.” (P97)

As always Malick provides and unique approach to the females in his films, from Holly in Days of Heaven to Pocahontas in The New World, the female is abstracted from traditional gender types and or Hollywood stereotypes, A Latto again expands:

“Malick departs from the classical cinematic approaches in his presentation of female characters: they are neither the glamorous star, the femme fatale nor the cute child. Of their gender role, the films offer marked contrasts… In Linda the role is not yet so fixed; by casting a female actor and presenting her ambiguously, the spectator is led to question the concept of ‘the category of women as a coherent and stable subject’, Linda exemplifies the fluid nature of the gender role in the developing child” (P98)

Manz does a particularly good job in the role of Linda, her face fits into the world perfectly and her outsider perspective is maintained by a totally unselfconscious performance from the then sixteen year old actor in her onscreen debut. Since then she’s performed in nothing of any great significance, only a small part in David Fincher’s 1997 film The Game is mention worthy. Apart from Manz the rest of the cast is exceptionally strong as with all of Malick’s films. Malick rarely re-uses actors from one film to the next, the cast of Days of Heaven is no exception, although from reading accompanying literature it would seem that Malick’s wider use of actors does not come from actors being unwilling to work with him or vice versa, but because he prefers a more careful consideration of which actor is right for which part. In The Thin Red Line for example he used some of the bigger name stars in comparatively small roles and then weighed larger sums of the drama on the lesser known actors. With Richard Gere and Sam Sheperd he found two performers perfectly suited to the roles they took. Although Gere in particular is known more as a sex-symbol than character driven performer, he is in general under rated when it comes to some of his more credible performances, away from the romantic comedy drivel he’s more known for peddling and we find excellent roles in films like Internal Affairs, Chicago, or the overlooked gem Sommersby. But at this point Gere had not yet had career defining turns in the likes of American Gigolo or An Officer and a Gentleman, he to was relatively unknown with only two previous feature film roles to list on his C.V. As with many Hollywood actors Gere has been a victim of type casting for much of his career, getting continually burdened with blander shades of bland protagonists. But the character of Bill in Days of Heaven is a more complex beast, and one which Gere embodies well. There is poison in his veins, his greed is all consuming and will destroy everything that is good in his life, he is of course naturally handsome, the lover, the farm hand, the working class hero in some respects who arrives at the beginning of the film on the run with two women to look after, but despite everything which sets Bill up as the hero of the film – he is in fact the villain. It is his selfishness which sets the story in motion and it is again his selfishness which destroys everyone else’s happiness.

The Farmer is no less complex, as played by Sheperd; we witness him early in the film resting comfortably in his idyllic house as hundreds of workers slave away in his fields. But this is no typical slum land lord or callous baron. He takes the privileges of life as if he’s entitled to them, as he’s been brought up of course, but never seems to revel in his own superiority; he is instead a very lonely and fragile figure who our working class “hero” Bill takes advantage of. The Farmer is not without fault, but as the victim of severe acts of treachery he does gain our sympathy. Malick’s complex assault on our sensibilities leaves no easy answers by the end of the film, the man we want to root for proves himself to be petty and vindictive, the man we should despise is victimised by those who claim to love him. We can not even look to the women for a surer assessment of righteous character, as both Linda and in particular Abby display admirable and despicable traits, they are accessories to the crime and are never coerced or forced into deception, but rather voluntarily agree to be part of Bill’s plan. J. McGettigan describes Days of Heaven as homage to the Western genre in relation to its character portrayals and narrative:

“Constantly using western conventions and then revealing their falsity, the film becomes gradually more poignant. Hopeful that this narrative may ultimately be about the glory of the West, about progress and community, and the emotional rewards of labour, in each instance, the viewer is shown the fragility and elusiveness of these ideals. The central characters deal with situations that do not face more traditional Westerners – the failed male friendship, redemption denied, revenge rendered meaningless. It is mournful, and nostalgic, though not for any true West. Rather, it confirms our need for the myth of the West. Having seen the western’s practices exposed as illusions, we understand better their value, and cling to them all the more. Days of Heaven is not an anti-western but a homage, to the west that never was, a love letter to the West which we have created.” (P61-62)

The film does defy genre, its closest to being a Western, although only some of the requisite elements are in place for a Western, as described by McGettigan it’s not an anti-Western either. As with all of Malick’s films, they are at once part of a genre and away from genre at the same time. Each of his films are easy to classify, Road Movie, Western, War Movie, Historical Picture etc, but all of these categorisations are proved unreliable when the films are examined at their cores. The Thin Red Line is undoubtedly a War Movie, but is unlike any War Movie that’s come before or since, but more on that in a future episode.

Days of Heaven is filled with remarkable imagery and scenes as already described. Images and moments of Malick’s minor masterpiece will stay in the viewers mind long after the film has concluded. Be it minor details like how the agricultural and industrial machines drown out the sounds of people’s voices (by extension the work over rides the people, they’re workers not human beings) or the re-occurring images of nature which surrounds these men and women, birds in the fields, otters in the water, or rabbits playing in the corn. Linda’s friend mentions her ear was bitten off by a dog, a smaller example of how man attacks nature – nature attacks man as the locusts arrive. Man harvests and profits from nature but with a single change to the environment and all that profit is destroyed with merciless efficiency. Some scenes display mans carelessness towards nature Ben McCann expands on this point and ties the carelessness in with the fates of the central characters in his essay: ‘Enjoying the Scenery’: Landscape and the Fetishisation of Nature in Badlands and Days of Heaven:

“In another scene, when Bill and Abby lie together in the fields one night, Malick’s camera shifts from a dreamy contemplation of the clouds above to the brief shot in which we see a glass they have discarded sinking through the water, coming to rest amid the flora and fauna of the riverbed. This brief sequence may be symbolic of the deterioration of their relationship or the pollution of nature by human presence, but it showcases Malick’s detached camera style and indicates the impassivity of nature, in which individual motivation stands for nothing.” (P83)

Days of Heaven is filled with random events which endow the film with a canvas much wider than the films narrative would ordinarily allow, as with Malick’s montage editing style we are exposed to people and places in ordinary life, exhibiting habitual behaviour and inconsequential play. At a beautifully shot bonfire night, Abby and the farmer dance around the flames, Bill stare onwards as his jealousy begins to take over his better judgement. Earlier in the film a young girl is dancing with an older man to the tune of a harmonica, although the scene has no bearing on the narrative it adds to the sense of place and time, as do the faces and fragments of conversations between the workers which seem totally natural as if they weren’t aware they were even being filmed. Solitary images of startling beauty add to the world and increase our awareness of the surrounding elements: wind blowing river water, or a steam train passing by on the hill top. It all ties together in the film as a whole, as Ben McCann again explains:

“Days of Heaven… contains renditions of nature and the landscape that are simultaneously passive and highly significant… the cinematography fetishes nature to such an extent that the images threaten to engulf the narrative, turning the films into exercises in ‘film painting’… For Richard Combs, Malick and Almendoros conjure ‘pointillist-fashion, a beguiling landscape, both harsh and magical’, while contrasts in mood and landscape are established through the differing colour schemes – the final scenes of Bill fleeing justice are shot through a cold blue filter, emphasising the increasing sense of isolation and futility, and provide a stark opposition to the rich hues of the harvest and the farm.” (P79-80)

The films frequent reliance on imagery does not distract from wider interpretive possibilities as Ron Mottram points out in his essay: All Things Shining: The Struggle for Wholeness, Redemption and Transcendence in the Films of Terrence Malick:

“Like Abram and Sarai in the Old Testament, Bill and Abby pretend to be brother and sister, and the result of their subterfuge parallels that of the original story in the book of Genesis. As God ‘plagued Pharaoh and his home with great plagues’ because he took Sarai into his house, thinking she was Abram’s sister instead of his wife, the farmer in Days of Heaven is also plagued, first by locusts which begin to destroy his wheat crop and then by fire…” (P18-19)

The biblical illusions being some of the most powerful in the film, could this be Days of Heaven’s elusive genre? A biblical morality tale disguised as a Western? With Malick anything is possible. The continuing deconstruction of American myths, the blending or subverting of traditional cinema genres, the miraculously jaw dropping scenery and imagery, the fluid and yet unorthodox editing, the blistering dedication to unique visual signature – it can only be Terrance Malick. Truly Day’s of Heaven is a “magic hour” all by itself.

M.Dawson