20 Movies That Are Flawed Masterpieces

11. The New World (2005)

The New World, a clear and obvious cinematic masterpiece with flaws that only serve to enrich the movie, was met with total bewilderment upon first release. Terrence Malick's endlessly beautiful film, which tells the story of the beginnings of America - the New World of its title, don't you know? - as experienced by one Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell).

On paper, this is Pocahontas, then. But on the screen... well, it's a whole lot more. Of course, this being a Malick movie, that's almost always the case. And now The New World looks like a rich and wonderful and strange and moving film that was pummelled by the critics for no reason. After all, it's hard to argue against such a vision of a movie, and its rejection certainly serves as one of the great cinematic travesties of recent years. Because this is a work of unabashed art - warts and all.

The unfocused narrative? You could argue that this works in favour of the film's themes of exploration. If The New World seems lacking in emotion, consider that its characters are rendered with a sense of reality, and do not exert their feelings in what is the overdone fashion of Hollywood convention. And then there is the pacing; slow, yes, but who cares when you're looking at a film this beautiful?