The Thin Red Line


Starring Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, Elias Koteas, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, John Cusack, John Travolta, George Clooney, John Savage, Dash Mihok. Written and Directed by Terrence Malick.

Private Witt (Caviezel) has gone AWOL in the lush jungles of the Guadalcanal Islands in the South Pacific. It's 1942, in the middle of World War 2, and the U.S. Army is preparing to mount a campaign against the Japanese air bases there, hoping to turn the tide in the Pacific war in favour of the Allies. He plays with, swims with and talks with the natives as they engage in their peaceful, simple lives in the lush paradise. But soon he is back on the U.S. destroyer with his company, men he loves being with despite going AWOL. His friend Sergeant Welsh (Penn) gets him back in without charges by putting him on medical duty. But he wants to get back on the front lines.

The main task for the company is to overtake a hill with Japanese carefully hidden in the tall grass and machine gunners dug in at the top. It doesn't start well, as the Japanese pick off the charging Americans with ease. Captain Staros (Koteas) is close to his men, and wants to pull a flanking move to surprise the enemy and spare his men. Lieutenant Colonel Tall (Nolte), an ancient warrior eager for glory that might propel him higher in the army hierarchy, directly orders him to attack and not to "avoid a fight". The next day, eager Sergeant Gaff (Cusack) volunteers to take dedicated Private Bell (Chaplin) and a few good men to move through the grass to take out the machine gun nest. He does and is made Captain for it. But the forces must press on towards the ultimate goal in taking the air base.

The thrust of the movie is not plot. War is looked at from not only the point of view of ordinary soldiers, but that of nature and the native inhabitants looking on at the invaders. Beautiful shots of crocodiles, parrots, owls, exotic birds and natives are interspersed amongst the carnage. For example, while the U.S. forces apprehensively move through the jungles, not knowing when they will encounter the Japanese, a native man non-chalantly walks by, treating the soldiers as if they were just tourists and not much to concern himself with. Considerable time is spent with characters discussing their hopes and fears, instead of having just non-stop action and killing. There are many plot developments that go unanswered. Why did Private Witt go AWOL despite the fact he loved being with his company and how is he captured? What happened to Captain Gaff, who is never heard from again after his heroic taking of the Japanese on the hill, despite being made Captain? Why is Captain Bosche brought in to make a big speech, and then never heard from again? Reportedly, Malick presented a first cut of six hours, but was forced to cut it below three. As such, the roles of Cusack, Harrelson, Clooney and Travolta were massively cut. Clooney has at most two minutes left in what one might guess was supposed to be a sizeable role in the film's second half of the film as the new company Captain. Cusack comes into the picture out of nowhere, and has a very intense fifteen minutes, and then disappears. I look forward to the release of the director's cut (let's hope), where a lot of the loose ends might better be tied together.

Malick illustrates that war is not only hell, but a temporary madness where men do brave, suicidal and cowardly things at the whims of their commanding officers. And sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the three. This is not a John Wayne movie. It's also not Saving Private Ryan, a movie which contains phenomenal battle footage and a pretty good story. But at heart it follows the conventional war movie format, where war is hell, but the brave and patriotic do their duty with little questioning of the top brass to save their country from the evil hordes threatening the (usually) American way.

With The Thin Red Line, war is presented as man's folly, something inflicted upon nature, but that nature will go on after the armies have finished their insanity. Glory seeking soldiers would rather fight and needlessly sacrifice men, instead of achieving objectives by less suicidal means. One of the bravest is Welsh who when recommended for commendation for bravery, tells the Captain to stick the award - he doesn't want it. He believes the only objective is to "survive" the war "intact". He believes life "on this rock" is all there is and this is as good as it gets. Death is no release to some afterworld paradise. But Witt believes there is a better world, and yearns to join "the light", not fearing death. I'm sure I missed much of the imagery and ideas presented, and look forward to seeing it again. One of the best movies of the year.




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