A beautiful and haunting symphony...

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2009)

The Thin Red Line is one of the best, if not THE best, war movies ever made. It tells the story of a group of soldiers before, during, and after the invasion of Guadalcanal in WWII.
Pvt. Witt (James Caviezel) theorizes about death and life in the world of war after he goes AWOL yet another time. Pvt. Bell (Ben Chaplin), homesick and devoted to his wife, philophizes about the war of love inside of him. The relationship between Capt. Staros (Elias Koteas, in one of the best supporting performances ever, in my opinion) and Lt. Col. Tall (Nick Nolte) is examined after Staros refuses to obey Tall's orders in the heat of battle, knowing that it would mean certain death for his squad. Sgt. Welsh (Sean Penn), a weary war veteran tries to hold the team together and focuses on reforming Witt. These are just a few of the dozen of story lines presented in The Thin Red Line. However, if you ask me, there are no real story lines. It is a war seen through the eyes of the soldiers who are facing the horrors of this practice.
This movie is long, it is slow, but it is also meditative. Not boring, but meditative. It is a thorough, beautiful, and shockingly realistic examination of the paradox we call war. Now, this film is not for everyone. It's not for people with short attention spans. It is not for people who need constant action to stay entertained. But those who are meant to see this film, will see some of the best cinematography, direction, and pure realism ever put on screen.
This film stays with you. It is a beautiful and haunting symphony to the art of the human soul, the world of nature, and the pure horror that war holds for ALL the people involved. For, as the tagline reads:
"Every man fights his own war."