Badlands

Terrence Malick’s dazzling directorial debut, based on a seemingly random killing spree undertaken by a young Dakota couple in the 1950s

Malick’s dazzling directorial debut, based on a seemingly random killing spree undertaken by a young Dakota couple in the 1950s, eschews pat psychological explanation for something more ironic, complex and daring. The luminous images, the use of Carl Orff’s music, the dialogue and the voiceover providing excerpts from the teenage girl’s artless diary situate the precise recreation of a moment in American history within a larger, more mythic context. Note a rare sighting of Malick himself.