Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973): USA
Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.
The films of the 1970’s had an iconoclastic feel to them and many hold a place among the greatest and most influential of cinema. But there is still something incredibly unique about Terrence Malick’s 1973 debut film Badlands that continues to inspire in its beauty and simplicity in a way all its own.
Loosely based on the Charles Starkweather/Carol Fugate 1950’s killing spree, the film follows the relationship between twenty five year old Kit (Martin Sheen) and fifteen year old Holly (Sissy Spacek) as they sneak around behind her father’s back. When her father finds out, he tries to break them up, but Kit ends up shooting him. Not knowing what else to do, Holly goes with Kit and they live for awhile in their own little utopia in the forest until citizens trying to collect reward money for their capture force them to go on the run. They end up driving across the Great Plains headed toward Montana, trying to outrun the law.
It is this film that moves cinema enthusiasts to bemoan Malick’s lack of prolificness. The film is intensely lyrical and poetic both in its composition and in Sissy Spacek’s eerily sweet and naïve narration, which she delivers with a tender ennui that is pleasing to the ear. Both she and Martin Sheen give wonderful performances as they both seem somewhat out of touch with reality. Sheen’s deadpan delivery is perfect and creates much of the humor in the film as he is so detached it is often hilarious. The whole film has a sedated quality and even the violence in the film is somehow muted. A major strength of the film is its score by George Tipton which has a magical fairy tale sound to it that lends itself beautifully to the dreamlike quality of the film. Though the film deals with a killing spree and lovers on the run, the film is better described by scenes like the couple dancing to Nat King Cole in the headlights of their car in the pitch black middle of nowhere, or sending some of their belongings up in a balloon for someone somewhere to find them. This couple lives out their romantic fantasy, even among the chaos they create. This is a must see for any cinema fan.
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