Our take
The title of Days of Heaven perfectly captures the idyllic life on the farm. It’s truly beautiful. Director Terrence Malick and cinematographer Néstor Almendros shot in natural light, letting dawn and dusk outline their characters in gold, as they work, laugh, and have some semblance of stability for the first time in ages. Despite their dubious past, it’s so easy to understand why the love triangle falls for each other, in this light. But simultaneously, it’s the perfect style to depict life from a child’s memory, the very same dream Americans once had before the wars they were pulled into.
What it won
Oscars
1 win · 3 noms
Cannes
1 win
Golden Globes
2 noms
BAFTA
1 win
WGA
1 nom
Nat. Board of Review
2 wins
NYFCC
1 win · 1 nom
LAFCA
1 win
The story
In 1916, a Chicago steel worker accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend and little sister to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer.
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
