The Thin Red LineOne of life's dominant paradoxes is how there can be so much beauty and splendor in the world, and yet such a propensity in mankind for the destruction of it and each other. Set during World War II in and around Guadalcanal, The Thin Red Line is a war movie about a company of soldiers tasked with taking a strategic hill from the Japanese and the ensuing battle. But more than this, The Thin Red Line is about the individual American G.I.s themselves, and their personal hopes and fears, as well as their respective existential doubts, confronted with imminent death far from home.
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Movies about World War II are far from rare, but there are several things about The Thin Red Line that make it stand out from the crowd. The Thin Red Line was written and directed by Terrence Malick--and adapted from the novel of the same name by James Jones--representing the first film from the celebrated auteur since Days of Heaven, released twenty years earlier. The return of Malick from such a lengthy hiatus prompted Hollywood's most sought after actors to vie for roles at dramatically reduced salaries, which speaks in part to why The Thin Red Line is positively bursting with high-profile, talented actors, even in minor roles. Similar to Days of Heaven--and to a lesser extent, his earlier film, Badlands--The Thin Red Line is contemplative and slower paced than other films about World War II, favoring moments of introspection over exposition. This meditative approach puts the audience in the minds of the assorted soldiers as they cope with everything from post-traumatic stress disorder to fundamental human conflicts, ranging from justifications for brutality and killing in wartime, heartbreak and loneliness, and challenging preconceived perceptions of bravery.
The Thin Red Line opens with United States Army Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) relaxing among the Melanesian natives on an island in the South Pacific, contemplating the simple purity of such a tranquil life. It isn't until an Army troop carrier passes by and he hides for cover that it becomes clear that Witt has gone AWOL (absent without leave). When he is captured, he is sentenced by First Sergeant Welsh (Sean Penn) to serve with C Company in their invasion of Guadalcanal as a battle medic, rather than dishonorably discharging him from the Army. There is a past between these two men, and their differing outlooks on life--including their debate about the existence of an afterlife--suggests a friendly rivalry between them. The relationship between the two men and their values is reminiscent of the portrayal of Captain William Bligh and Fletcher Christian from Roger Donaldson's The Bounty, as is the environment where Witt and Christian both choose for their respective insubordination, i.e. the South Pacific. Yet neither Witt nor Welsh display the stereotypical aspects of men in their position, and both men exhibit valiant bravery in key moments--not for glory or praise, but because they discover who they are in these moments of crisis. In one scene, Welsh observes one of his men suffering terribly in his final moments in the middle of a highly volatile kill zone and races through severe gunfire toward him. Realizing that he cannot possibly save the wounded man, he instead gives him an excess of morphine to soothe his passage into death. Despite his protestations to Witt that there is only life on "this rock" and nowhere else, it is clear that this moment affects Welsh for the rest of The Thin Red Line. Near the end of the film, Witt approaches Welsh, who has gone off by himself and appears full of angst. When he comments about Witt's "spark", it has a tinge of envy to it. Similarly, although Witt had gone AWOL some half a dozen times before the events in The Thin Red Line, he is prepared to sacrifice himself after he and a couple of other men are discovered during a reconnaissance mission, allowing one of them, Corporal Fife (Adrien Brody), to escape and warn the others of the incoming Japanese. Witt has obeyed his orders without fail heretofore--perhaps just to prove to Welsh that he could--but this moment of bravery shows that he is anything but a coward.
Witt and Welsh's stories are only part of a multifaceted tale about several men in C Company. The invasion of Guadalcanal is overseen by Lieutenant Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte)--introduced while simultaneously being praised and patronized by Brigadier General Quintard (John Travolta), who tasks him with securing the strategic island from the Japanese. This first interaction--along with Colonel Tall's cynical inner monologue--draws a parallel between Tall and Brigadier General Paul Mireau from Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory. Both men have lost sight of the true meaning of bravery and pursue achievement for its own sake, despite the heavy cost the soldiers under their command pay for it. This is most evident in Tall's interactions with Captain James Staros (Elias Koteas), his subordinate in charge of leading C Company in the field. When Tall demands that Staros storm the Japanese bunker situated atop a hill via a frontal assault, Staros bravely defies Tall's order by demanding a reevaluation of the enemy forces, and suggesting a flanking approach that would save the lives of the men under his command. Tensions run high in this scene; Tall is practically foaming at the mouth as he shouts angrily into the phone at Staros, who keeps his cool to the best of his ability given the intensity in and around his position. When Tall concedes under the condition that he inspect the battle site firsthand--only to find the conflict has died down--he instead tasks Captain Gaff (John Cusack) with flanking the bunker, leading to a successful (if harrowing) assault. But even after this victory, Tall reveals his selfish motivations by demanding that his dehydrated soldiers press the advantage. The primary difference between Tall and Staros is underscored after Tall relieves Staros of his command under the auspices of being awarded the Silver Star. While Tall is all swagger--waving a switch around like a riding crop, à la the eponymous general from Patton--Staros comments to his men that they are all like "sons" to him in a farewell that lingers in the hearts and minds of those brave boys fighting a foreign foe on the other side of the world.
Because of the extreme danger of their mission to capture the Japanese base on the hill, many of the soldiers of C Company will not return from their mission. And in spite of the substantial amount of high-profile actors cast in various roles in The Thin Red Line, there is no guarantee that a character will survive just because of that actor's prestige, unlike in many other war movies. For example, Woody Harrelson--whose earlier film credits included critical and commercial successes like Natural Born Killers--plays Sergeant Keck, a subordinate to First Sergeant Welsh. Keck had previously threatened a soldier who was having a panic attack prior to the initial assault; but when he accidentally triggers a grenade affixed to his belt, he instinctively accepts the responsibility for his mistake and throws himself on top of an embankment to prevent the deaths of anyone else. The Thin Red Line also served as a springboard for many other young actors like Jared Leto, who plays Second Lieutenant Whyte, a perpetually gum-chewing soldier in the vanguard of the attack, and John C. Reilly as Sergeant Storm, who confesses that the war has numbed him to the suffering of others. One soldier who survives despite almost always being in the thickest fighting is Private Bell (Ben Chaplin). Before C Company lands on Guadalcanal, Bell recalls that he was demoted to the rank of Private for failing to report for duty so that he could spend time with his wife, Marty (Miranda Otto). Bell often flashes back to these halcyon days with his wife; his memories are intimate and warmly lit, and it is implied that his love and devotion gives him the strength to pull through the horrors of war.
It would not be a stretch to describe The Thin Red Line as an "anti-war" movie, like how it depicts the top brass as disconnected from their humanity, espousing derivative metaphors about bravery and unity instead of leading by example--like Staros' replacement, Captain Bosche (George Clooney). Like Full Metal Jacket--another anti-war movie by Stanley Kubrick--The Thin Red Line subverts tropes of the war film to underscore the futility and inhumanity of waging war at all. Consider when Witt returns to visit the Melanesian natives; while the natives were previously only apprehensive about the AWOL Army soldier, when he returns--assault rifle dangling from his left hand--they practically flee at the mere sight of him, terrified that he is about to bring his war to their doorstep. Traditional war movies emphasize the heroism of its protagonists, but ultimately build to a climactic set piece where the soldiers' heroism is rewarded with total victory against their enemies--evidence that their triumph was a result of their superior moral fiber and willpower. Anti-war movies--like The Thin Red Line--depict both the Americans and the Japanese as terrified and desperate for victory instead, and that fear and desperation drives them to atrocities. Despite their heavy losses, when the Americans take the Japanese bunker, they find the surviving Japanese soldiers woefully malnourished and terrified--a far cry from the image of ferocious warriors built up in their minds. After C Company pursues the Japanese into the jungle, a frenzied skirmish ends with their enemy's makeshift settlement being burned down, leaving the few surviving Japanese crying in anguish next to the bodies of their fallen comrades. Tall rewards his boys with a week of R&R following their success; despite being met with cheers, the men are haunted and cannot quell the trauma, no matter how many bottles of liquor are foisted on them. Though these men will be praised as heroes, their valor rings hollow in their hearts, rendered mute in the pervading echoes of machine gun fire and the screams of their dying brothers in arms.
Recommended for: Fans of a poignant and introspective anti-war movie that explores the emotional and psychological toll of warfare on the hearts and minds of the soldiers who fight. Since The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick has continued to create thoughtful and imaginative meditations on the human experience that invite audiences to ask the important questions about life and our place in it. This film is no exception, and--like many of his other works--it is cinema at its most poetic, brutal yet beautiful.
The Thin Red Line opens with United States Army Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) relaxing among the Melanesian natives on an island in the South Pacific, contemplating the simple purity of such a tranquil life. It isn't until an Army troop carrier passes by and he hides for cover that it becomes clear that Witt has gone AWOL (absent without leave). When he is captured, he is sentenced by First Sergeant Welsh (Sean Penn) to serve with C Company in their invasion of Guadalcanal as a battle medic, rather than dishonorably discharging him from the Army. There is a past between these two men, and their differing outlooks on life--including their debate about the existence of an afterlife--suggests a friendly rivalry between them. The relationship between the two men and their values is reminiscent of the portrayal of Captain William Bligh and Fletcher Christian from Roger Donaldson's The Bounty, as is the environment where Witt and Christian both choose for their respective insubordination, i.e. the South Pacific. Yet neither Witt nor Welsh display the stereotypical aspects of men in their position, and both men exhibit valiant bravery in key moments--not for glory or praise, but because they discover who they are in these moments of crisis. In one scene, Welsh observes one of his men suffering terribly in his final moments in the middle of a highly volatile kill zone and races through severe gunfire toward him. Realizing that he cannot possibly save the wounded man, he instead gives him an excess of morphine to soothe his passage into death. Despite his protestations to Witt that there is only life on "this rock" and nowhere else, it is clear that this moment affects Welsh for the rest of The Thin Red Line. Near the end of the film, Witt approaches Welsh, who has gone off by himself and appears full of angst. When he comments about Witt's "spark", it has a tinge of envy to it. Similarly, although Witt had gone AWOL some half a dozen times before the events in The Thin Red Line, he is prepared to sacrifice himself after he and a couple of other men are discovered during a reconnaissance mission, allowing one of them, Corporal Fife (Adrien Brody), to escape and warn the others of the incoming Japanese. Witt has obeyed his orders without fail heretofore--perhaps just to prove to Welsh that he could--but this moment of bravery shows that he is anything but a coward.
Witt and Welsh's stories are only part of a multifaceted tale about several men in C Company. The invasion of Guadalcanal is overseen by Lieutenant Colonel Tall (Nick Nolte)--introduced while simultaneously being praised and patronized by Brigadier General Quintard (John Travolta), who tasks him with securing the strategic island from the Japanese. This first interaction--along with Colonel Tall's cynical inner monologue--draws a parallel between Tall and Brigadier General Paul Mireau from Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory. Both men have lost sight of the true meaning of bravery and pursue achievement for its own sake, despite the heavy cost the soldiers under their command pay for it. This is most evident in Tall's interactions with Captain James Staros (Elias Koteas), his subordinate in charge of leading C Company in the field. When Tall demands that Staros storm the Japanese bunker situated atop a hill via a frontal assault, Staros bravely defies Tall's order by demanding a reevaluation of the enemy forces, and suggesting a flanking approach that would save the lives of the men under his command. Tensions run high in this scene; Tall is practically foaming at the mouth as he shouts angrily into the phone at Staros, who keeps his cool to the best of his ability given the intensity in and around his position. When Tall concedes under the condition that he inspect the battle site firsthand--only to find the conflict has died down--he instead tasks Captain Gaff (John Cusack) with flanking the bunker, leading to a successful (if harrowing) assault. But even after this victory, Tall reveals his selfish motivations by demanding that his dehydrated soldiers press the advantage. The primary difference between Tall and Staros is underscored after Tall relieves Staros of his command under the auspices of being awarded the Silver Star. While Tall is all swagger--waving a switch around like a riding crop, à la the eponymous general from Patton--Staros comments to his men that they are all like "sons" to him in a farewell that lingers in the hearts and minds of those brave boys fighting a foreign foe on the other side of the world.
Because of the extreme danger of their mission to capture the Japanese base on the hill, many of the soldiers of C Company will not return from their mission. And in spite of the substantial amount of high-profile actors cast in various roles in The Thin Red Line, there is no guarantee that a character will survive just because of that actor's prestige, unlike in many other war movies. For example, Woody Harrelson--whose earlier film credits included critical and commercial successes like Natural Born Killers--plays Sergeant Keck, a subordinate to First Sergeant Welsh. Keck had previously threatened a soldier who was having a panic attack prior to the initial assault; but when he accidentally triggers a grenade affixed to his belt, he instinctively accepts the responsibility for his mistake and throws himself on top of an embankment to prevent the deaths of anyone else. The Thin Red Line also served as a springboard for many other young actors like Jared Leto, who plays Second Lieutenant Whyte, a perpetually gum-chewing soldier in the vanguard of the attack, and John C. Reilly as Sergeant Storm, who confesses that the war has numbed him to the suffering of others. One soldier who survives despite almost always being in the thickest fighting is Private Bell (Ben Chaplin). Before C Company lands on Guadalcanal, Bell recalls that he was demoted to the rank of Private for failing to report for duty so that he could spend time with his wife, Marty (Miranda Otto). Bell often flashes back to these halcyon days with his wife; his memories are intimate and warmly lit, and it is implied that his love and devotion gives him the strength to pull through the horrors of war.
It would not be a stretch to describe The Thin Red Line as an "anti-war" movie, like how it depicts the top brass as disconnected from their humanity, espousing derivative metaphors about bravery and unity instead of leading by example--like Staros' replacement, Captain Bosche (George Clooney). Like Full Metal Jacket--another anti-war movie by Stanley Kubrick--The Thin Red Line subverts tropes of the war film to underscore the futility and inhumanity of waging war at all. Consider when Witt returns to visit the Melanesian natives; while the natives were previously only apprehensive about the AWOL Army soldier, when he returns--assault rifle dangling from his left hand--they practically flee at the mere sight of him, terrified that he is about to bring his war to their doorstep. Traditional war movies emphasize the heroism of its protagonists, but ultimately build to a climactic set piece where the soldiers' heroism is rewarded with total victory against their enemies--evidence that their triumph was a result of their superior moral fiber and willpower. Anti-war movies--like The Thin Red Line--depict both the Americans and the Japanese as terrified and desperate for victory instead, and that fear and desperation drives them to atrocities. Despite their heavy losses, when the Americans take the Japanese bunker, they find the surviving Japanese soldiers woefully malnourished and terrified--a far cry from the image of ferocious warriors built up in their minds. After C Company pursues the Japanese into the jungle, a frenzied skirmish ends with their enemy's makeshift settlement being burned down, leaving the few surviving Japanese crying in anguish next to the bodies of their fallen comrades. Tall rewards his boys with a week of R&R following their success; despite being met with cheers, the men are haunted and cannot quell the trauma, no matter how many bottles of liquor are foisted on them. Though these men will be praised as heroes, their valor rings hollow in their hearts, rendered mute in the pervading echoes of machine gun fire and the screams of their dying brothers in arms.
Recommended for: Fans of a poignant and introspective anti-war movie that explores the emotional and psychological toll of warfare on the hearts and minds of the soldiers who fight. Since The Thin Red Line, Terrence Malick has continued to create thoughtful and imaginative meditations on the human experience that invite audiences to ask the important questions about life and our place in it. This film is no exception, and--like many of his other works--it is cinema at its most poetic, brutal yet beautiful.