The Thin Red Line Review
by "Nathaniel R. Atcheson" (nate AT pyramid DOT net)February 3rd, 1999
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Director: Terrence Malick
Cast: Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, James Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, John C. Reilly, Nick Nolty, John Travolta, Bill Pullman, Paul Gleason Screenplay: Terrence Malick
Producers: Robert Michael Geisler, Grant Hill, John Roberdeau Runtime: 170 min.
US Distribution: 20th Century Fox
Rated R: violence, language
Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson
Before going to see The Thin Red Line, I had heard that the film was nothing but a visually impressive look into Terrence Malick's own ego. I heard that it was bloated, impenetrable, and thematically weak. I didn't hear that it was a bad movie -- no, I simply had heard that it wasn't going to be as good as I hoped it would be. Times like this remind me of why I shouldn't listen to word of mouth.
You see, The Thin Red Line is a wonderful film. It's at once the most visually stunning picture of 1998 and the most thematically layered. Malick's loose interpretation of the James Jones novel is also a hugely ambitious picture -- it brings us a frightening, surrealistic vision of war. It shows us the way World War II affected individual soldiers. It shows us the way war destroys nature and the physical world. Malick does all of this in one, three-hour package that can not possibly be fully understood with just one viewing.
One problem I heard is that the film doesn't have much of a narrative. This is true, though I don't think it's a problem. The picture centers around a group of soldiers and their advance on Guadalcanal. As the film opens, we meet Private Witt (James Caviezel), living among a group of peaceful natives. The first twenty minutes of the film are slow and pensive -- Malick is clearly focusing on the simple lifestyle of the natives, the way they happily live in and among nature. One of the best shots in the film occurs early on: after several minutes of the serene, colorful images, an American ship emerges in the distance. It's a jostling image, and one that strikes us simply because technology, when compared to nature, is ugly.
The next act of the picture has the soldiers advancing on Guadalcanal. They land on the island with no casualties, but they soon find Japanese resistance on the rolling hills inland. Lt. Col. Gordon Tall (Nick Nolte) is in charge of the operation. Beneath him is Captain James Staros (Elias Koteas); Tall wants the men to charge straight up the hill, but Staros has a problem sending his men in to die. There are many soldiers in these scenes, but only a few get notable screen time: Private Witt, with his constant introspections about the meaning of life, and Private Bell (Ben Chaplin), who can not stop thinking about his wife (Miranda Otto) back home.
Malick's most apparent success is in the battle scenes. They are truly frightening, and flawlessly photographed. For several minutes, Malick focuses on the lush, verdant hills, covered in tall grass, intertwined with the gales that slide through the rolls. Then, without warning, bombs explode, defacing the stunning image. The soldiers run through the landscape like ants, getting picked off by by Japanese soldiers, invisible in the mountainsides. Hans Zimmer's musical score pounds mercilessly in the background. Malick is unflinching here -- people die instantly, without big, Hollywood death scenes. Characters that he introduces to us suddenly lose their life, and Malick doesn't apologize. He perfectly captures the unrelenting chaos of war.
But the war scenes are not all that Malick does perfectly. The slow, contemplative character moments are equally powerful. The film has a lot of voice-over narration; we can't always tell who's talking, and that's a sobering statement on Malick's part -- he seems to suggest that none of these soldiers have any life beyond war. Frequent shots of the serenity of nature provide jostling evidence that Malick finds humanity and war a cancerous force on earth.
The Thin Red Line is also a showcase for the actors involved. I normally find Nick Nolte repulsive, but he is the shining performance here. There is so much in his character -- from the reasons he wants the soldiers to head right into death, all the way down to the disappointment he has in his son -- and Nolte handles all of these layers with ease. Caviezel is also wonderful; I've never seen him in anything else, but I found his character the most interesting. Chaplin (Washington Square) is another standout; watch carefully the scene in which he reads the letter from his wife. Both Koteas and Penn have significant roles, and both handle the burden effortlessly. There are also interesting cameos from John Cusack, John Travolta, and George Clooney.
Until now, I've resisted mentioning Saving Private Ryan. And while I appreciate the reviews that have not made a comparison between the two films, I'd like to address it here. Saving Private Ryan was a film that affected me initially, and gradually lost its power as I thought about the numerous contrivances in the story. Frankly, The Thin Red Line makes Spielberg's film look like a cartoon. Malick's picture is far superior in every way -- he doesn't apologize for war the way Spielberg does. He avoids every kind of Hollywood cliche (including the hideous bookends that Spielberg couldn't resist using). Saving Private Ryan, by comparison, looks like it was shot on a soundstage. The Thin Red Line never feels that way. I'm not saying that Spielberg's film is bad -- no, I think it has a lot to offer. But Malick's film is more satisfying in each aspect.
However, I will admit that Saving Private Ryan is easier to approach. I don't think The Thin Red Line is for everyone (there were, after all, numerous walk-outs during my screening). It's long. It's slow. It's extremely pensive. But it's also a profound film, both thematically and visually. It takes energy to watch it, and it will drain you. It might even make you feel dehumanized. But I don't think anyone can ignore the power that Malick harnesses here. I've never seen a better war film than The Thin Red Line, and, for some reason, I don't think I ever will.
Psychosis Rating: 10/10
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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