The documentary "Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography" lavished more screen time on "Days of Heaven" than on any other film. It even went so far as to use the movie's theme as the final credits rolled. It is easy to see why "Days of Heaven" was so respected. The film provides strong evidence that cinematography, rather than script or story, is the most important element of a film.
"Days of Heaven" has a minimalist script and relies upon the camerawork to flesh out the plot. There are many distant shots of lush wheatfields, of migrant farm workers earning their day's wages, of steam trains and thrashers. There are also many close-ups, not just of the cast, but even of grasshoppers munching. The slow pace allows the cinematography to tell the story. The shots become redundant only when depicting a wheatfield fire.
"Days of Heaven" takes place in the Texas panhandle area during World War I. Richard Gere stars as a hotheaded itinerant worker. His lover is Brooke Adams, but for some reason they tell others they are brother and sister. They work on the immense wheat farm of Sam Shephard, who has been told he has but one year to live. Shephard falls in love with Adams. Gere tells Adams to marry Shephard, with the intention of both inheriting his wealth after his impending demise. It would seem that all sides benefit from this arrangement, except that Shephard isn't getting sicker, and suspects that Gere and Adams aren't as they appear to be.
"Days of Heaven" was a project that took place over several years. One reason for this was the scenes included all four seasons. Another reason was that most filming took place at dusk due to favorable lighting.
Gere and Shephard were little known actors at the time, and perhaps their rise to fame is partly due to this beautiful film. Brooke Adams briefly carried her career momentum with "Cuba", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", and "The Dead Zone", but her star somehow faded during the 1980s.
The cast, direction, cinematography and story are all excellent and mark "Days of Heaven" as one of the most important American films of the 1970s. Director Terrence Malick, whose 1973 film "Badlands" has also been highly acclaimed, did not direct another film for twenty years. He finally made a comeback in a big way with "The Thin Red Line" in 1998. (93/100)
Terrence Malick's follow-up to BADLANDS is an exquisitely photographed story of a group of early-20th-century itinerant workers who find themselves en...More at Family Video
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