Beautiful and Masterful.

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2006)

I have had this DVD on my shelf for years now, and have recently dusted it off, sat down and watched it from start to finish. A lot of people can't even manage this with this film, with a running time of approx 160 minutes and during that only one major battle sequence. However, that's the only real complaint I can find myself thinking of.
The film is from Terrence Malick (The New World) and sports the theme of human vs nature. It's obviously also a war film, and focuses on a load of soldiers fighting against the Japanese so they can take control of an air field. The film follows the soldiers from arriving at the island, to leaving the island....and in my opinion there isn't one dull or boring moment in between.
Don't believe the trailer, at the end is boasts how many actors are involved, and although it certainly is true, the one misleading fact is that actors such as George Clooney and John Travolta are only seen for a matter of minutes. Instead, the film focuses on the characters of Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Ben Chaplin and Elias Koteas. Everyone here acts to their best and we see Elias Koteas in his very best performance, as well as a stunning and emotional portrayal of love, loss and fear from Ben Chaplin, who uses memories and the hope of getting back to his wife (Miranda Otto) as a means to carry on. The flashbacks themselves are very well conceived, using the music to carry on the emotions between the couple and placing Miranda Otto's character in situations and places of dreamlike quality....they were conceived and executed perfectly and makes the character of Ben Chaplin all the more believable.
The music and cinematography here are stunning. The music is beautiful but also haunting at the same time and helps stir the emotions, whereas the scenery never fails to mesmerise. It really makes you question brute force when you see a beautiful landscape get blown to hell by a raid of artillery and the effects of war and human invasion has on the animal inhabitants (e.g. a baby bird on the verge of dieing amongst a battle and a snake being caught up amongst a group of crawling soldiers).
The battle(s) themselves are also tremendous....but anyone expecting the shaky-cam style of Saving Private Ryan will be disappointed. The action is realistic, but not gritty. The raid through a Japanese village is exceptionally emotional, following American troops as they chase the enemy through a village and witness them killing and being killed. The violence is not glorified, overly brutal or gory....but serves a reminder of how unsettling and emotional war can be like.
The reason for why this film wasn't as much of a success as it should have been came down frankly to Saving Private Ryan, which was released around about the same time. This film, is not for the average movie-goer and needs a lot of attention and endurance from the watcher....it does not adhere to the conventions of normal war films, but then again acts and flows more like a piece of poetry than it does a war film.
I urge everyone to at least try and watch this film.
9/10