[Video Essay] The Films of Terrence Malick: Days of Heaven

"All Things Shining," Pt 2
The Films of Terrence Malick: Days of Heaven
by Matt Zoller Seitz
Museum of the Moving Image (NYC) is re-posting a video essay series created by Matt Zoller Seitz in 2011, on the occasion of the retrospective "Moments of Grace: The Collected Terrence Malick," which is running Nov 15-Dec 8, 2019. More info on the series at movingimage.us/...
"All Things Shining: The Films of Terrence Malick" was originally published on Moving Image Source, a publication of Museum of the Moving Image. Pt 2: Days of Heaven was posted on May 11, 2011.
This video was written, narrated, and edited by Matt Zoller Seitz. (Thanks to Joseph Jon Lanthier). To see the original post, visit www.movingimage...

[@arieyelen8040]

Was with a girl on a first date when we saw this movie. When the movie ended I could not get out of my seat. It touched me so greatly that I could barely speak. My date on the other hand did not understand why I liked the movie. She made it clear how much she disliked it. I drove her home and never saw her again. We were too different. Days of Heaven has stayed with me all these yesrs. I have watched it many times, and when hearing the music it brings out in my very profound feelings. I am now 74 years old.

[@dimensionhacker2271]

that's a solid move

[@hughsmith7850]

Aren't you happy you missed the bullet? I felt the same way after going on a date and watched Shindler's list. How could anyone want sex after watching that movie. Good judgement

[@perfectblue8443]

I had a very similar experience with another Mallick movie: Thin Red Line. My date didn't like it. I could not get this movie out of my head for another decade. By then she was long gone.

[@simonboccanegra3811]

I remember tuning in to this on television years ago, as a young person. It was the scene in which the young woman laborer is saying goodbye to Linda and jumping on the train, and the Morricone score (which I didn't know then was a variation on the Saint-Saëns "Aquarium" theme) was playing. Something told me, just within that scene, that this was a movie with a special way of looking at the world, and I had to find a way to see it all. I've since seen it all the way through more than any other single film, and I never tire of it. I love The Tree of Life and The Thin Red Line and other Malick movies, but this perhaps will always be my favorite.

[@NoirFan84]

Totally agree. Not only my favourite of Malick's but also within my top five movies of all-time.

[@willclares]

That scene is very powerful.

[@johnnyv.5142]

This great film was also shot entirely in natural light, no artificial lighting. This gave the film an authentic feel to the time period.

[@willclares]

I enjoyed this, but Zoller Seitz neglects to say (though I am not suggesting that he doesn't know) that the film takes its story and structure from Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. Abram, a man chosen by God, is going through Egypt with his wife, Sarai, and says to her "Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee". Bill and Abby also do this, as Linda says "They told everyone they were brother and sister... You know how people are. You tell them something and they start talking". What Abram predicted comes to pass and "the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels". This is also mirrored in the film as Abby marries the farmer (the pharaoh) and Bill stays with them and lives more comfortably than he presumably ever has before. The story continues in Genesis as so: "And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had." As you can see, Days of Heaven is an almost note for note retelling of this kind of event. The farmer is similarly "plagued" because of his relationship with Abby. Another thing to add is that the plague of locusts in the film is straight out of Exodus, which God created to punish a similar Pharaoh who persecuted the Israelites. I don't think it's a stretch to say that the locusts are God's punishment for the events of the film, and that is my personal view of it. The title of the film also comes from the old testament, from Deuteronomy ("That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth"). And another important thing to mention is the absence of Christ or the new testament from the film's speech and narration. Is it possibly this absence that makes the world of the film so brutal? But in the end, what all of this means and why Malick presents the early twentieth century as a kind-of Old Testament world or landscape is beyond me, though I hope this information helps you to put the film in its correct context.

[@M_Sonata]

Excellent explanations!

[@monishsaikrishnakumar758]

Thank you very much for taking the time to pass on this information. It's much appreciated.

[@michaelotis223]

Well observed!

[@kaotoole88]

Great observation! Would just like to add that Moses flees Egypt after killing the Egyptian similar to Bill leaving Chicago.

[@willclares]

@@kaotoole88 I was thinking about this myself not long ago. He, like Moses, is "a stranger in a strange land."

[@etherealtb6021]

Beautifully said. This film always feels like a dream to me.

[@t2p5g4]

I remember driving by the filming of it 45 years ago.

[@BlindSwami_]

One of the most beautfiul films of all time and a spectacular analysis of it

[@Imalrightma]

Having just watched this for the first time i think im still awed by it days later. The whole thing had an element of Shakespearean tragedy about it whilst being filmed like a sombre but beautiful tone poem. Truly unique and that's why i love it.

[@M_Sonata]

Wonderful video essay Matt. I was deeply intrigued by all the points you brought up regarding Days of Heaven, which is a movie that I didn't see, but now have an increased desire to see after watching this video. Something you said that fascinated me was: "The question that I keep asking myself when I watch this film in particular, but all of Malick's movies is: is there a God in Terrence Malick's universe, and the way he photographs nature seems to suggest that." This resonates with me because this is the biggest question I have always asked myself when I watch any of Malick's films, and the way you express the question I ask myself while also answering it is perfect. Also another fascinating statement you made was: "All of his films to some degree reinforce the idea that no, it's not about you, and this life you're living is just one infinitesimal part of the cosmos." Beautifully stated! Thanks again Matt

[@michaelotis223]

Sums up Malick's philosophy perfectly

[@mycatsnameiskaren8253]

7:59 i laughed at loud when she says "mud doctor". I found this charming and it's stuck with me. I love this girl and her accent is fabulous. It makes me want to find out who she is now and what she did with her career. Her and Abby both were cast so well. This movie really took me in. I came across a you tube short and decided to watch it on a whim after being engrossed in a murder trial for the last month. It was exactly what I was looking for. Pure joy to watch. And a nice little rabbit hole as well. I'm seeing my parents this weekend for Mother's Day and will show this to them if they haven't already seen it. They are in their 80's and will really enjoy it. ❤

[@jamesq5831]

when i realized she was the mom from gummo i loled

[@mysteriousboi1019]

I enjoyed this film much more than Badlands. Everything was so beautiful, even the death.

[@jimisi7424]

The greatest child performance in movie history imho

[@fabiengerard8142]

🙏🏻🙏🏽🙏

[@craigfinnegan8534]

I've watched this exquisite film through generations of technology - vacuum-tube television on HBO circa 1982, VHS up to 2009, DVD until my current embedded video I have on my tablet to watch offline. The "magic hours" at sunset that recurred throughout Days of Heaven captured the heart of a film that was magic itself. The only flaw of Days of Heaven was the overly long nighttime fire scene, TBFFT (To Be Fast-Forwarded Through). I try not to think about the fact that Days of Heaven was originally filmed off a script before Terence Malick radically "poetized" it in the post-production editing, meaning there's lots of scenes sitting in a lonely basement archive never to be seen by anyone, not even the actors themselves.

[@JimiJames]

Great video. Inspiring form.

[@prilljazzatlanta5070]

Besides the parallel to Abraham and Sarah, I’ve never understood the motive behind the couple saying they’re brother and sister. Any thoughts?

[@Alex-sq8xm]

You know how people are. You tell 'em something, they start talking

[@CanelaAguila]

I was wondering that as well! The most I can come up with is (married) couples finding it hard to find work because of the chance of offspring

[@AmyThomasson-g1f]

I thought they weren’t married which would have made people talk.

[@prilljazzatlanta5070]

@@AmyThomasson-g1f maybe thats it. For some reason I thought they were married

[@jimisi7424]

I get it terrence! I am utterly irrelevant!…..but its a tough pill to swollow!….all i have is me

[@Vesnicie]

Infinitesimal we may be, but infinitesimal under God. Malick recently made a peerless masterpiece called "A Hidden Life" that Illustrated this idea even more clearly.

[@Beerning]

Brilliant

[@tflynn717]

Where can I find the other videos from this series?

[@AGHAND2001]

7:10

[@PraytheRosaryEveryDay]

Yeah nope. Bizarre movie with stranger than strange ending. Didn't like any of the main characters besides the farmer. Could not bring myself to care about such trashy people. Why it is named Days of Heaven, when there's no Heaven anywhere in this movie except the wedding, which is just a sham after all.

[@sasshole8121]

When I watched this movie, I missed the part where the narrator mentions they *pretend* to be brother and sister. I just thought they had an incestuous relationship. It made it spicier.