Reviews

Despite a couple of very weird casting choices which spoil one or two scenes, this is a great work of cinema. Many of the most profoundly moving sequences are almost entirely devoid of dialogue and yet these scenes are powerfully eloquent.Terrence Malick is a master of imagery.

This film is strange and beautiful- some of the scenes remain with me though I haven't seen it for 12 years. Most of all I recall the scene where the ship takes on a group of refugees somehow this funeral ship with its cargo of grieving operatic elite and exhausted stateless and utterly impoverished people becomes an image of great compassion and humanity and optimism even. I don't "understand" Fellini's films but I "felt" this one very passionately.