Days of Heaven

Most movies are noted for something that makes it memorable. Jaws had its score, Citizen Kane had its cinematic shots and Days of Heaven had its cinematography.

Bill (Richard Gere) and Abby (Brooke Adams), a young couple who to the outside world pretend to be brother and sister, are living and working in Chicago at the beginning of the century. They want to escape the poverty and hard labor of the city and travel south. Together with Bill's yonger sister Linda (Linda Manz) (who acts as the narrator), they find employment on a farm in the Texas Panhandle. When the harvest is over, the young, rich, handsome farmer (Sam Shepard) invites them to stay because he has fallen in love with Abby. When Bill and Abby discover that the farmer is seriously ill and has only one year left to live, they decide that Abby will accept his marriage proposal in order to make some benefit out of the situation. When the expected death fails to come, jealousy and impatience are slowly setting in and accidents become eventually inevitable.

Although the cinematography is stunning, it pretty much covers up a weak plotline. The acting is moderate at best. Terrence Malick's direction was good though.

My Rating: ****