Filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually stunning films of the twentieth century (Badlands, The Thin Red Line, The New World). Calgary Cinematheque is pleased to present his Oscar-winning period tragedy Days of Heaven.

In 1910, a Chicago steelworker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor, and he, his girlfriend (Brooke Adams), and his little sister (Linda Manz) flee by rail to the countryside of the Texas panhandle. They find work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle ensues followed by the drama of a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire and, ultimately, another unintended murder – Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating a timeless, gritty picture of the American west at the turn of the century.

Days of Heaven was shot in Canada at Whiskey Gap, Alberta, a ghost town south of Lethbridge. The film places its characters in an epic prairie landscape filled with raw, natural details: big skies, wild rivers, endless fields of grass and wheat. Malick and cinematographer, Nestor Almendros, shot much of the film during the "magic hours" when the sun was just rising or setting. Limited to around twenty minutes a day, the light is very soft and muted conveying an almost impressionistic beauty and romanticism. Never has the heartland of America looked so spectacular.

Malick won the Prix de la mise-en-scène (Best Director award) at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also nominated for Academy Awards for Costume Design, Original Score, and Sound. It won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The award was given in the name of principal photographer Nestor Almendros. This was somewhat controversial as renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler also received credit on the film. Malick was also named the best director by the National Society of Film Critics.

Terrence Malick's remarkably rich second feature is a story of human lives touched and passed over by the divine, told in a rush of stunning and precise imagery. Nestor Almendros's cinematography is as sharp and vivid as Malick's narration is elliptical and enigmatic. The result is a film that hovers just beyond our grasp—mysterious, beautiful, and, very possibly, a masterpiece. Dave Kehr of The Chicago Reader