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| Private Witt: We know nothing about his life, but everything about him. |
The Basics:
Who made it? Terrence
Malik (director and writer)
Who’s in it? Nick
Nolte, Sean Penn, John C. Reilly, Adrien Brody, John Cusack, Jim Caviezel, more
white dudes.
Synopsis:
Terrence Malick's adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel,
focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the Second World War. Watch the Trailer, it explains the themes and ideas of the film very
well.
The
one thing that I can say for certain about The
Thin Red Line is that there isn’t another war film like it. It is a
philosophical, poetic war film that wrestles with human nature, life, and
death. Now, many war films do that, but not like Malick. He essentially makes a
three hour poem, filled with beautiful imagery and character voiceovers. The
film opens with Caviezel’s Private Witt asking in voiceover “Why does nature
contend with itself?”, and the rest of the film examines that question, through
the setting of the battle of Guadalcanal. In his essay on the film, Simon
Critchley sums up this sentiment: “The inhumanity of war lets one see through
the fictions of a people, a tribe, or a nation towards a common humanity. The
imponderable question is why it should require such suffering to bring us to
this recognition.” This conundrum of why only through inhumanity can humanity
truly be seen is the biggest idea The
Thin Red Line examines.
The
other ideas are just looking at the nature of life and death. You could never
say Malick isn’t aiming high.
These big ideas and philosophising are a very good thing, because as just a war film, it wouldn’t be particularly “good.”
The first big action set-piece, in which the troop of soldiers attempts to take
a Japanese held hill, but are repelled in harrowing fashion, is a bit
incoherent. The viewer isn’t given a good understanding of who is doing what, the
geography (who is where in relation to each other, and the enemy) of the
landscape, and what exactly is going on. Granted, I’m sure battle is a little
something like that, but it is still possible to show the incoherence and
messiness of war while also showing a coherent and dramatic story (alas, not
everyone is Spielberg).
The characters are never particularly developed, as the film is focused more on
examining human nature as a whole, instead of the individual characters.
Overall,
I very much enjoyed The Thin Red Line.
It made me actively think while watching it, and it rewards that thought.
However, if you’re looking for a more thrilling, character-oriented, or history
focused war film, I would suggest looking elsewhere.
Scene of the film: Seven soldiers attempting to take the Japanese bunker on top
of the hill makes is thrilling and exhilarating and a piece of very well-done
action cinema.
My Rating: 7.5/10
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