GRADE: A+

Part-time filmmaker Terrence Malik’s “Days of Heaven” is a cinematic masterpiece, a film that takes full and almost unparalleled advantage of its medium in creating an exquisitely mounted mood piece filled with some of the most extraordinarily beautiful and memorable images ever brought to the screen. It’s a film so visually indelible and breathtaking to watch that cinematographer Nestor Almendros’ well-deserved Academy Award seems inadequate to the achievement.

Not every story brought to the screen lends itself to an approach that can be driven more effectively by pictures than narrative composition, and few directors and screenwriters are equipped to tell their stories primarily through moving images and static portraits. Obviously, Malick is an exception, not only willing, but able to comprehend that this brooding, introspective examination of hardship and human endurance during the Great Depression would best be expressed visually.

Images alone, however, cannot support an entire film (although here Malick comes close to accomplishing such a feat), and “Days of Heaven” also sports an engrossing plot that slowly develops into a multi-layered drama involving murder and duplicity. While on the surface that story is about a young couple and the husband’s younger sister who are seeking a better life than the poverty-stricken one they left behind in 1914 Chicago by heading for the wheat fields of Texas, it is really the story of unrealized dreams, ignorance and ambition, and the consequences of trying to make those dreams come true, which in this case involves a scheme dreamt up by the young man to ensnare the handsome and wealthy landowner with his wife.

Richard Gere, Brooke Adams and Sam Shephard turn in wonderfully understated performances that give real substance to their characters and the story without overwhelming the remarkable visuals that remain center stage throughout. Newcomer Linda Manz, in the role of Gere's younger sister and the story's narrator, gives a one-of-a-kind performance that acts as both the glue and conscience of Malick’s allegorical screenplay. Her simple commentaries, spoken with an air of someone whose wisdom and experiences belie her age, provide an eloquent counterpoint to the schemes hatched by her cohorts, and in so doing fashions an entry way through which viewers can fill in some of the blanks created by the film’s lack of narrative exposition.

Superb period detail, an introspective music score (courtesy of master 12-string guitarist Leo Kottke and composer Ennio Morricone) and a distinct lack of glossy Hollywood technique help to make “Days of Heaven” everything it should be—an unforgettable experience, a triumph of film as both art and entertainment, and without a doubt one of the finest films ever produced. Don’t miss this one!

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