The infinite sublimity of the natural world, a theme common to all of Malick but whose depiction in this film's first hour may never have been surpassed, should have been a utopia within which cohabitation—of beliefs, ideas, skills, and cultures—could thrive. Instead, the corporatist British, believing themselves educators, governed by notions of authoritarian occupation and control, rather than by any American dream worthy of the name, tore it down.