Days of Heaven

1978 drama



Rating: 18/20



Plot: It's the 19-teens, and Bill from Chicago finds himself in some legal trouble after killing one of his supervisors and the alleged molestation of the mascot for Chicago's professional soccer team, the Gerbil. He (Bill, not the Gerbil) flees with his girlfriend Abby and his young, more than likely retarded sister Linda to a state with a panhandle and gets them jobs on an expansive farm for three bucks a day or week or month or year. Bill and Abby pretend to be siblings to not draw attention to themselves. They also like to make everybody else working on the farm uncomfortable when they make out or grope each other. After Bill finds out that the farmer (whose name seems to be The Farmer) might have less than a year to live, he talks Abby into marrying him so that they could inherit the man's riches and lifestyle. The plan doesn't work out so well.



Terrence Malick spends a lot of time on his movies, and it shows visually. Badlands and The Thin Red Line are both beautiful movies, but even they can't compare to the stunning and poetic visuals of Days of Heaven. The majority of the story is wisely told in silence or with Morricone's score or Leo Kottke's guitar. In fact, I believe there might be more narration (the sister's, generally enigmatic) than dialogue, and there isn't really an excess of narration. Subdued acting and a really simple (nearly soap opera) story don't distract from the real star, the setting--the flowing fields of wheat, the clouds, the house against a stark background. Every shot is like a painting. Absorbing and haunting and an absolute cinematographic feast.


Note: Obviously, from the picture I used above, there is a Criterion release. I'll have to grab that one some time.



Addendum: I just read in somebody's interpretation of this movie that the four main characters could stand for the four elements. Bill = fire, Abby = water, Linda = earth, The Farmer = wind. There might be something to that! Interesting.


This guy also has a more than likely retarded sister: