Keeping in the spirit of detachment from violence, Terrence Malick’s debut feature Badlands marked quite the arrival of a unique filmmaker. Now known for his poetic style that has all but divorced itself from the conventional ways of narrative, Malick’s first work displayed the influences of contemporary artists as well as making significant departures in key areas. In a sense, it was perhaps the most appropriate time for him to begin making movies.
On one hand, Badlands is a kind of variation on the Bonnie and Clyde story, a young man and woman traveling the American Midwest, in love with each other, and robbing and killing people. Their exploits, though, aren’t analyzed as much as their psychology, their relationship with each other and with the nature that surrounds them. We hear narration from the perspective of the girl, Holly, but the romanticism and poetry of her thoughts plays in rather stark contrast to the apparent lack of any thought of the people they’re murdering. This creates a dissonance that is simultaneously disturbing and compelling. It would appear as though artists and audiences were becoming more comfortable in and curious about this dissonance.
Badlands marked the first of several films that demonstrate Malick’s tendency, in a good way, to observe human behavior the same way a nature documentarian would observe animals. It’s worth watching simply for some of the most gorgeous photography of any film to that point.
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