pathetic fallacy

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 1999)

I was more than a little disappointed by this film. After the exceeding media hype around it, I was pleased to see other commentors on this site who saw through the "correct" response to this movie to the "truthful" response: it failed.
I've enjoyed the wartime film genre for many years. You won't find any "Kantian" interpretations here (who *was* that guy!?), but you will find an "academically informed" response. To start, the adaptation was horrific. Consider the precursor interpretation: *From Here to Eternity.* In a word: incredible. What discovery of character was present in that film, while still capturing that mood that is utterly James Jones...
*The Thin Red Line* to say it briefly, commits the pathetic fallacy: in trying to "do justice" to a disjointed and detached situation (war), it presents us with a disjointed and detached film. The result: we are no closer to understanding the pressures these men felt; their stories have not been told; the enigma of military service has not been illuminated.
There are literally millions of stories about World War II: stories of cowardice, bravery, standing-up, betrayal, detachment, horror, patriotism, foolishness, homesickness, wanderlust--the list is as long as our lexicon. The trick is, you HAVE TO TELL A STORY.
*The Thin Red Line* tells no story. Its characters come and go, with some modicum of individuality, and we never know how any of the events impact them as individuals, or the men around them. And even if that was the case in Guadalcanal, or if that is the point of the film, that point could have--should have--been driven home to the audience through something more than, indeed, vacuous, stream-of-consciousness-wannabe poetry.
I was left worse than cold--I was left numb to an event that, for all of the psychological trauma it left on those men, is somehow diminished by this film. It must win a dubious achievement award for that!
Just for the record, it failed in every conceivable way for me: the camera work, the editing, the soundtrack, the dialogue, the character development, "plot" inconsistencies, the casting... I could go on, but what's the point...
Read the book. Skip this film.