Rating: 
Summary: PARADISE LOST
Review: DAYS OF HEAVEN is one of the most original american movies of the last 25 years. Second film of Terrence Malick, the acclaimed director of THE THIN RED LINE, it relates the encounter of three young farm workers and their wealthy employer in 1916.The director of photography, Nestor Almendros, has obtained an Oscar for his work and the least one can say is that he deserved it. In fact, DAYS OF HEAVEN offers a breathtaking trip in the heart of America. Terrence Malick films as well the most little animals as the vast landscapes in order to emphasize the actions of Man on Nature. The machines brought by the industrial revolution in this idyllic land appear as monsters. In this - Hell and Paradise - scheme, no wonder that humans seem doomed to sin. Richard Gere and Brooke Adams don't accept the poor and working life they're condemned to and, as soon as the occasion comes, will lie, cheat and kill. The uneasiness we feel during DAYS OF HEAVEN comes from the strangeness of the commentary of Linda Manz, the 13th year old girl whose voice will haunt you for a long time. Her innocent vision of the events she witnesses is one of the reason DAYS OF HEAVEN stays, 20 years after its theatrical release, as an UFO in Hollywood production. A DVD for the movie lover. NB: Ennio Morricone gives here one of the best musical score of his career.
Rating: 
Summary: PURE GENIUS
Review: Terrence Malick made a masterpiece. DAYS OF HEAVEN is a must buy for the movie guru. Malick was ahead of his time and a lot of filmmakers today could take note of his ability to use nature, sparse dialogue, and simple plot to make a powerful and emotional movie that will stand the test of time. I actually read the original script of DAYS OF HEAVEN the other day and I have to say that Terrence made the right decision to limit the dialogue and incorporate more the grandeur and expansive landscape of the wheat fields of the Texas Panhandle. I only wish Terrence Malick would make more movies. He is clearly a visionary with gift of narrative. Richard Gere is subtle and not playing himself. What a fantastic movie! I could say a lot more but simply YOU should BUY it and watch over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie/Bad Copy
Review: No care was taken into the transfer to DVD. It looks like a 2nd generation copy to me. A shame that no attention was paid this beautiful film. But, that aside, it is indeed..a poem.
Rating: 
Summary: "When I was your age, I was all by myself in the world."
Review: Terence Malick's "Days of Heaven" is famous for its breathtaking images and beautiful musical score. It is also known as the last film the great director made before his self-imposed 20-year exile from the film industry. Watching "Days of Heaven" makes you wonder what great works Malick would have produced if he decided to continue filmmaking throughout the Eighties and the Nineties. His absence from the industry truly was a loss for all film enthusiasts everywhere. "Days of Heaven" is set in the year 1916. America is becoming more and more industrialized as time goes on. In one Chicago steelmill, Bill (Richard Gere) attacks a foreman and is forced to go on the run. He takes along his girlfriend, Abby (Brooke Adams) and his younger sister Linda (Linda Manz) with him to Texas. The three of them find employment as laborers with a wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard) with Bill passing off Abby as his sister. Eventually, the farmer and Abby marry after Bill tells her he discovered that the farmer is ill and will soon die. Once the farmer passes away, Bill and Abby will be able to live off his wealth and leave behind their nomadic lifestyle. However, the farmer manages to hold onto his health and tragedy strikes when he eventually discovers the true relationship between Bill and Abby. All of the praise "Days of Heaven" has received over its visual splendor is well deserved. Malick has always had an eye for filming nature in all its beauty and the way he employs the sky, the streams, the wheat fields, and the animals of the prairies in his narrative essentially establishes nature itself as a character in the film. The musical score of Ennio Morricone is equally compelling and perfectly captures the varying moods the characters go through. However, the one element that keeps "Days of Heaven" from being considered a true masterpiece is its story. The love triangle that lies at the core of the film is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill soap opera drama. Manz's recollection of the events through her narration gives the events an added dimension as the tale becomes intertwined the loss of her innocent childhood. Yet, the story unfortunately does not rise to the same level with the images and music that accompany it. Still, "Days of Heaven" should still be watched. There is a power in the imagery of the film that must be seen. Additionally, all of the principal actors are outstanding with the lesser known Adams and Manz being true revelations. One wishes both actresses made more films as their talent shines through in every frame they are in.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Film (RE: the DVD transfer only)
Review: This film should really be given the attention it deserves but it appears that this copy is the best we'll get for some time to come. I'm not going to review the film as others have already done this. I'm only commenting on the transfer - on my DVD player (Pioneer DV-434) at approximately 7:31 there is a digital-glitch that freezes the frame for a split second (the player does NOT go into SEARCH but continues counting properly thus, I place the blame on a poorly encoded transfer - where was their Quality Control?) then, the sound drops out for approximately 2-3 seconds (and the DOLBY DIGITAL indicator on the DVD player also goes out). I notice digital-compression NOISE on the audio track during ALL narration and on nearly ALL audio dialog UNLESS the music or sound-effects mask the noise. You expect this on VHS but on DVD? I WOULD NOT HESITATE TO PURCHASE THIS FILM, regardless... it IS, as many others have stated, a masterpiece... As with the films of Godard, Kurosawa, Buñuel etc., you must give yourself over to the directors' vision as auteur. Trust, and you'll be rewarded. If you enjoy films such as: "Last Year At Marienbad", "Vagabond", "Contempt", "Belle De Jour", "The Hired Hand" you will, most likely, enjoy this one. p.s. Just to be sure it was NOT my DVD player, I sent my first DVD back to Amazon.com and they sent another copy - it performed exactly the same. You may find it interesting to look up "Days Of Heaven" at imdb.com and click on DVD DETAILS for a more technical analysis.
Rating:
Summary: Too Depressing
Review: 'Days of Heaven' has certain moments that are breath-taking and visually stunning, but the film suffers from being way too depressing. Yes, it's true the main characters are in a bad situation, but the movies takes itself too seriously. Some scenes of humor or other goofy scenes might have been refreshing, but the film has none of those. It is a good story, but has little dialogue and will leave you on a sour note.
Rating: 
Summary: 90 Minutes of Wheat
Review: Although that might sound interesting to all of you Malick and wheat lovers out there, it is not. Yes, there are about 10 or 11 shots in the movie that are beautiful. And I know that Terrence Malick is such a genius that he doesn't need to bother with things like story and dialogue. But--except for the death part--I wouldn't care about these characters and their underdeveloped love triangle if they were my best friends. Every time I thought an interesting conversation was about to take place, the film faded to black and then cut to a train or more wheat. If trains and wheat were sex, then this movie would run very closely to a mid-budget, turn-of-the-century porn. But trains and wheat are not sex, so this movie is boring. Also, if you don't want people to bother you about your possible relations with a certain lady, don't say "No, guys, really. It's alright. She's my sister."
Rating:
Summary: Maybe she'd meet up with a character...
Review: I keep going back to it. Christ said, "Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" Wow, does 'Days of Heaven' ever drive that one home. Every time I watch my favorite movie scene of all time - the workers riding the rails, none of them with a dime in their pockets to speak of, to Kottke's 'Enderlin' with Linda's voice-over, I ask myself who's really alive, people like them or people like me?
If Linda Manz had become famous, like she should have, and won awards, like she should have, I wouldn't have watched any of it. I don't take chances with perfection and Linda gave me perfection in "Days of Heaven".
And what better wish could you give a lonely person than hoping they'd meet up with a character?
Rating:
Summary: John Steinbeck would be proud!
Review: Many who have read quite a number of John Steinbeck's books (preferably Of Mice and Men)can notice the influence toawrds Malick's metaphysical love story. Of Mice and Men is the story about two migrant far workers who search for jobs throughout the hills of Deep South, however it's plot and character actions are ultimately overshadowed by the everpresent forces of nature. Days of Heaven's love triangle also suffers a diminished potency due to the ever-intriguing majesty of God and Mother Earth. Yet many have misidentified the film as a simplistic declaration of human minority. What we have here is instead a phislisophically profound study of human interference and fault. The title might possibly have more to be about the misguiding placidity allured by the American Dream. Like George and Lennie in Of Mice and Men, their ambition is misguided by the falable complexity of the American Dream, and much like Bill and Abby their fall lies responsible towards that dream. Their Days in Heaven are out here in the pastures where they obtain the lattitude, undenialby missing from the modernized world. Yet it is human nature that once again will befall them.
Rating:
Summary: Sanctified Season.
Review: In 1916, Industrial change takes on, man moved by the will to undo their poverty became the hand that moved the machine in exchange for money, their employers became more richer and powerful, they don't need you, if you go, they can have someone else do your job. Harvest (according to season knowledge), is sanctified, Amen, beginning the masses to account the vast fields of corn with naked hands, in summer and in winter, sun and ice aside your specified work, you are sweating in heat or shaking in cold, yours brothers and sisters, your father and mother are here to stay as long as the fields are given their fruit. Micro cells of friendship are made, you are their companions and they are yours to talk, play, she becomes your wife, your son is born here, and so you must work today and tomorrow, everybody looks back, every day before seems alike today. At last, the harvest season is over, and you go empty handed, it wasn't worth it, the money will last for some small luxuries, not enough to break away form this miserable life, new world of profits for the already rich, you have nothing, next year you will be back to barely support your self with the low payment, isn't your back broken and wasted?
Days of Heaven is made out of three essential masterful patterns, first the smooth and haunting photography created by the great Nestor Almendros (winner Best Photography, 1979 Academy Awards). The vast golden fields shot with the Magic Hour technique enlightened with a sensual slow camera movement, makes every frame both delightfully exuberant and elegant. The second essential pattern is the music, Camille Saint Saen'z Aquarium (From Carnival of the Animals) is not only used as the main theme, Ennio Morricone conveys smooth variations and tempos, recomposing the piece with such a delicate taste that the visuals manifest the narration explicit of Silent films, the poetic result of celluloid impressions. Finally, (and most important), director Terrence Malick (winner Best Directorial Achievement, Cannes Film Festival, 1978) takes this two patterns, and magnifies them with his unconventional direction, slow pace with an lyrical structure of landscapes in between the characters, delivering a modest masterpiece of film History, just like every great director, his the mastermind behind this, and Malick's narration becomes aware of the simple lives of its characters who won't be missed by no one else but then selves. The cast exposes the loneliness and perils of such a forgotten social class, Bill, Abby, the Farmer, and Bill's little sister, are representative of their time and its people's personalities, some family for sure experienced what they experienced as the very low working class, unlimited free and in love, caught in misery by God's will, money unfortunately in this conditions, is the difference, you lack of it and so you are mark as disposable; What else can you do but pray for a miracle?
Days of Heaven is a very simple but very beautiful story, composed in a real cinematographic way, the right images with the right music (with just the enough speeches from the actors to expose the plot), resulting in nothing more than the visual potential of storytelling, only this time, is both a film and poem.
The DVD edition has an optimal transfer, Widescreen Edition and Dolby Digital 5.1 sure merits to take home this version, nevertheless the studios have the capacity and money to invest in the movies that really matters (like this one), and give away to their customers a better product, with more attention to details and enhanced visuals.
Pale Autumn days, streams of water aside golden corn landscapes, hell by outcasts of heaven, next season will come no, matter what.
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