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BAD SOILS

BAD SOILS

Original Title: BADLANDS

Year: 1973

Address: Terrence Malick

Distribution:Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek

 

 

Award and nominations:

  • 1975: BAFTA: Nomination for Most Promising Actress Sissy Spacek

  • 1974: San Sebastian Film Festival: Wins Best Director

  • 1974: San Sebastian Film Festival: Martin Sheen wins Best Actor

  • 1993: National Film Preservation Board : The film will be preserved in the Library of Congress in the USA

 

BADLANDS (1973), directed by Terrence Malick, is a defiant film that challenges the basic structures of society, establishing its position of rejection through the depiction of the father's ritual death. This allows the characters to achieve freedom, albeit only for a limited time. The film aligns with a trend that includes films such as BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994), FIGHT CLUB (1999), and DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978), also by Malick. In all of these films, the characters only achieve freedom through death or murder. However, in most of these examples, the figure of the perpetrator lacks the poetic quality that Terrence Malick imbues in his characters.

By being condescending, Malick gives the impression of agreeing with the choices made by the protagonists of his stories. In this way, the director becomes an executor by proxy. As in other works, such as THE THIN RED LINE (1998), the viewer gets the feeling that society, as a human creation, degrades the environment and nature, including the people who comprise it; consequently, the act of killing those who represent or defend it is more than justified. To achieve this, Malick uses characters without guilt, immersed in universes where time flows in a particular way, a sensation he achieves through his camera work, editing, and sound design.

 

Although BADLANDS is an early film in Terrence Malick's career, the characteristics that will run through his Their work is already making its presence felt. This film, in which love serves as a shield and justification for the characters' actions, launched the careers of the two lead actors, who, after BADLANDS, were met with critical acclaim. For the director, it was the beginning of a career that would lead him to become a living legend of cinema.

Fun fact:

Martin Sheen, whose real name is Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez Phelan, decided to change his name after noticing that when he went looking for work or tried to rent a place, people seemed to show a subtle rejection as soon as he introduced himself. After the change, his professional life took off, and when he wanted to reclaim his former identity, it was too late; he had created his own persona. However, his original name is still the one that appears on all his legal documents.