Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Nick Nolte
Jim Caviezel
Sean Penn
Elias Koteas
Ben Chaplin
John Cusack
Adrian Brody
Woody Harrelson
John C. Reilly
Jared Leto
John Travolta
George Clooney
Directed By:
Terrence Malick
I haven't read the James Jones novel this movie is based on, so I might be missing a crucial information here. In fact, reading it could only make the experience richer since I don't know how it is possible for The Thin Red Line to ever have been a novel. Terrence Malick cracked this one out of the park though. In a hundred years from now, when critics and cinema lovers will remember Malick, they will remember The Thin Red Line before all his other movies. It's a movie with balls, heart and technical maestria. I have watched it last Friday with Josie as a part of our warm-up-for-The-Tree-Of-Life exercise* and I have to come to terms with this. The Thin Red Line aged very well. I must have watched it five or six times when I bought the DVD four or five years ago, but time and perspective makes the experience even better. Fine movies are like fine wine. They get better with time.
Now, you can't really understand the story of The Thin Red Line without understanding what Malick was trying to do. Broadly taken, it's the story of the Guadalcanal Island battle during World War II. There sure is a lot of battling throughout the movie. Violence, death, horror, all that stuff. But it's not a movie about war the way Saving Private Ryan or Pearl Harbor** are. The Thin Red Line has many narrators, all going through war as this grinding, alienating and dehumanizing experience. They are all trying to save what Private Witt (Caviezel) calls "the spark" within themselves and remain human in front of this never ending horror. Malick does a great job at illustrating their struggle through a series of low, raspy voice-overs as if a character would be talking to himself. They often play while images of wonder (Guadalcanal is a gorgeous place) or horror, while a character is trying to make sense out of the madness. The lean, yet poetic prose of Malick makes it a gripping experience. It's a little bit overwhelming sometimes (like all the soldiers were warrior/philosophers), but it works quite well overall.
What helps The Thin Red Line to make such a strong case for itself is the all-star cast. When was the last time you've seen so many red-carpet celebrities on a bill? Nick Nolte delivers the goods like a champion slugger (I think it's the last movie I remember where he did). He plays the role of Lt. Col. Gordon Tall, who rose through the ranks in the U.S Army without ever going to war. Now that he has his war, that he has his battle, Tall is like a fish in the water. Also, since he's not on the front lines, he doesn't quite grasp the extent of the carnage and pushes his men to their very limits. Jim Caviezel and Sean Penn also have quite the face-off. Fuck, that Penn guy is really good. I can't think of a single movie where his performance wasn't at LEAST satisfying. He played First Sergeant Ed Welsh, a gritty and lonely soldier, who is getting caught up by the war. Elias Koteas is also great. Emotional without being corny, his acting is as precise as ever. Jared Leto explodes and Woody Harrelson gives us a scorching scene...I mean what's not to like?
There is very little to dislike about The Thin Red Line. Some might not like the slow pace, but I suspect these people aren't into Terrence Malick in the first place. It's very characteristic of what he usually does and yet everything is heightened. There are more characters, they speak more and yet Malick gives you an intimate portrait of every one of them. Did I mention the photography was spectacular? Yes, the photography is gorgeous, bright and yet has shades of subtlety. While the colors are striking, the hill the soldiers have to climb is darker, make to look far, distant and impossible to climb, through the use of different lenses. I'm ready to go see The Tree Of Life now. Better yet, I'm ready to ransack my mind to find it enjoyable. Because Terrence Malick movies are beautiful and extremely rewarding. The Thin Red Line might just be the strongest example.
SCORE: 99%
*Who's really just about rewatching some Malicks and have some fun.
** All right, I'm stretching it here.