A trip back to the 'Badlands'

Yesterday I saw Malick's Badlands for the first time in many years. It was interesting to revisit the first Malick film I ever saw after having seen all his other films, most recently the spectacular Days of Heaven. Badlands was the first of Malick's three landmark films, along with Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, and is still by far one of his very strongest. I feel it is just below Days of Heaven for me but arguing the better seems counter-intuitive. They are both strong works of beauty in their own rights. I feel the moment that sums up Badlands for me is when Holly's house is burning down and the destruction is juxtaposed with a beautiful, haunting German hymn-like song that creates the visual metaphor, and what I feel is the primary theme of the film, the destruction of beauty and innocence.