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Days of Heaven DVD
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Rating: - In a word: Brilliant
Recently I took the chance to see the film "Days of Heaven." Originally it was released in theatres in 1978 (months before I was born) and was remastered and released on DVD by the Criterion Collection about a year ago. It stars a young Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shepherd with the legendary director Terrence Mallick at the helm.

The plot begins with Bill (Gere) working in an early 20th century Chicago foundry; being harrassed by his foreman. A skirmish between the two ensues and Bill accidentally kills him thus forcing his girlfriend Abby (Adams), his 13 year old sister Linda, and him to flee to Texas in order to find work. They end up on a farm of boundless wheat owned by a rich, and lonely Farmer (Shepherd) whose name is not revealed. While in Texas, Bill and Abby decide to mask themselves as brother and sister to avoid gossip. As time passes, they work hard and long hours in what seems a rustic paradise until the farmer notices Abby. The Farmer begins to court Abby. Yet in another scene Bill overhears the doctor telling him he has about a year to live. And so Bill with a reluctant Abby launch a plan to have her marry the Farmer with the intention of inheriting (stealing) the estate when the Farmer dies. What follows is a love triangle and a series of events leading to an apocalyptic type ending.

Interestingly, Mallick uses the four elements as symbols of the four main characters. Bill is fire. We first see him shoveling coal into a furnace of the foundry. His passion and pride, hinder and blind him from transcending his state of poverty. Abby is water. We first see her picking through garbage next to a river. Instead of following her conscience she follows the the path of least resistence. The Farmer is air. We first see him on the top of his mansion tinkering with his wind instruments. He is ephemeral, phantom-like, no family, no relatives, one year to live when he is suppose to be in the bloom of life. And Linda is earth. In a voice over narration she muses:"I'm been thinkin' what to do with my future. I could be a mud doctor, checkin' out the earth underneath." As a teenager she is seeking a foundation for her life.

The story is narrated by the disarming Linda and her broken (Brooklyn-Chicogoan) accent. We soon discover she is on a journey toward maturation. Her narrations are really meditative voice-overs, ranging from the mundane to the profound. She is a youth attempting to make sense of her surroundings. As Bill and Abby throw sheaves of wheat into a wagon, and huge menacing threshing tractors pass by, she muses:

"From the time the sun went up 'till it went down, they were workin' all the time. Nonstop. Just keep goin'. You didn't work. They'd ship ya right outta there. They don't need you. They can always get somebody else."

For the first time, she realizes the world succumbing to an excess of industrialization and utilitarianism. To round off the point in the next frame the Farmer and accountant are discussing the year's profit. The largest ever!

The three adult characters engage in minimal dialogue. The relations between the adults are viewed through the eyes of the 13 year old girl who cannot yet relate to the thoughts and emotions of the adult world. The result is that the passions between Bill, Abby, and the Farmer tend to be distant, and mysterious; almost as if they are shadows. The loss, uncertainty, and complexity of human existance is the essence of this story, as opposed the driven struggle and cathartic resolution of a conventional drama. This film is a meditation.

What is lacking in the strange narration and minimal dialogue is made up for by the stunning cinematography. It is generally agreed by critics, teachers, and filmgoers alike that this is the most beautiful film ever made. A significant portion of the film was shot during the "magic hour," the time where the sun is close to the horizon thus producing enchanting colors on earth and sky. The result is poetry in motion, a film in which images tell the story as much as narration and dialogue. In between scenes: a bird is seen soaring in the wind, a bison feasting on the land, a plant is budding up toward the sun, the silouette of a scarecrow in the foreground of blood orange horizon. These brief interludes of images imply a larger reality; as if the happenings of this farm are a part of some divine drama encompassing all of creation.

Finally the score! Oh the score! Evocative, haunting, even scary. The composer borrows one of his themes from Saint-Saens "Carnival of Animals." The other two main themes are original. The first, a ghostly melody played during transitions, the second a love theme of Abby and the Farmer. Folk themes are incorporated, catching the spirit of these times and workers of the field. In the celebration of the end of the harvest, a buzzing french man pounds at the fiddle singing in revelry, Linda smiles in the reflection of the bonfire with surprising beauty. A smile soon to fade to pending sorrow.