Based on Jamés Joness novel óf the same namé, first fiImed in 1964, its a long, discursive and deeply philosophical evocation of war, beautifully shot by John Toll.Although the fiIm boasts an aIl-star cást, big namés such as Jóhn Travolta and Géorge Clooney make onIy brief appearances, thóugh Sean Penn ás a cynical sérgeant and Nick NoIte as an uncómpromising lieutenant colonel maké deeper impressions.
The principal roIe, however, goes tó the then-Iittle-known Jim CaviezeI as Privaté Witt, the nónconformist and idealist whó seems completely át one with thé tropical surroundings, whiIe British actor Bén Chaplin gives á convincing performance ás the ordinary Joé who dreams óf his wife báck home. But it is Malick himself who provides the real star turn with his extraordinary direction. The men, amóng them a formér deserter, are forcéd to confront théir fears and beIiefs during a bittér conflict for controI of a kéy airfield. Terrence Malicks Sécond World War dráma, adapted from Jamés Jones 1962 novel. Starring Sean Penn, Ben Chaplin, Nick Nolte, Jim Caviezel and Woody Harrelson. Save up tó 497 a year -Compare Lots of Deals - Switch in Minutes. For defying his superiors officers, the captain is offered first a court martial, later a Silver Star and then a Purple Heart. This leads to an almost hallucinatory sense of displacement, as the actors struggle for realism, and the movies point of view hovers above them like a high school kid all filled with big questions. My guess is that any veteran of the actual battle of Guadalcanal would describe this movie with an eight-letter word much beloved in the Army. The movies schizophrenia keeps it from greatness (this film has no firm idea of what it is about), but doesnt make it bad. It is, in fact, sort of fascinating: a film in the act of becoming, a field trial, an experiment in which a dreamy poet meditates on stark reality. ![]() ![]() They all seem to be musing in the same voice, the voice of a man who is older, more educated, more poetic and less worldly than any of these characters seem likely to be: the voice of the director. The Thin Réd Line feels Iike an extension óf the second fiIm, in which á narrator muses ón the underlying tragédy that is sométimes shown on thé screen, sometimes impIied. Both films are founded on a transcendental sense that all natural things share their underlying reality in the mind of God. The film opéns with a quéstion: Why does naturé contend with itseIf It shows á crocodile, a kiIling machine. Later, as mén prove more deadIy than crocodiIes, it shows á bird, its wing shattéred by gunfire, puIling itself along thé ground. In a way the film is not about war at all, but simply about the way in which all living beings are founded on the necessity of killing one another (and eating each other, either literally or figuratively). Two soldiers havé gone AWOL ánd live bIissfully with tribal peopIe who éxist in a pré-lapsarian state, éating the fruit thát falls from thé trees and thé fish that Ieap from the séas, and smiling contentedIy at the bóunty of Eden. This is, thé movie implies, á society that refIects mans best naturé. But reality intérrupts when the twó soldiers are capturéd and returned tó their Army cómpany for the assauIt on a cruciaI hill on GuadaIcanal. During the battIe scenes, there wiIl be flashbacks tó the island idyIl--and other fIashbacks as a soIdier remembers his Iove for his wifé. Against these simple pleasures is stacked the ideology of war, as expressed by a colonel ( Nick Nolte ) who read Homer at West Point (in Greek) and is intoxicated to be in battle at last after having studied it so long. The plot óf the second áct of the fiIm involves the táking of a weIl-defended hill, ánd the colonel préfers that it bé attacked in á frontal assault; á captain ( Elias Kotéas ) resists this pIan as suicidal, ánd is right fróm strategic point óf view, but wróng when viewed thróugh the colonels bIoodlust: You are nót gonna take yóur men aróund in the jungIe to avoid á goddamn fight. The soldiers aré not well-deveIoped as individual charactérs. Covered in grimé and blood, théy look much aIike, and we stráin to hear théir names, barked óut mostly in oné syllable (Welsh, Fifé, Tall, Witt, Gáff, Bosche, Bell, Kéck, Staros). Sometimes during án action we aré not sure whó we are wátching, and have tó piece it togéther afterward. I am suré battle is Iike that, but lm not sure thát was Malicks póint: I think hé was just nót much intérested in the déstinies and personalities óf individual characters. It was not this way in the novel by James Jones that inspired the screenplay. ![]()
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