Between Paradise and Hell

Rating: 10/10 (28 February 2000)

With only 3 movies Terrence Malick is rightly considered as a genius of cinema. "The Thin Red Line" is very different from any other war movie: Guadalcanal is only a symbol of the tragedy of war, told us by the beautiful musings of private Witt (why the screenplay hasn't been "academy awarded"?), the soul of the movie. It is a movie when paradise and hell collide: the beautiful forests and the battles, death & horror and peace & love (in the memories of Bell). Everything is perfect in this movie: the fascinating photography by John Toll, the great cast especially Sean Penn, Nick Nolte (wonderful his musings, when he speaks with John Travolta), Ben Chaplin and Jim Caviezel. Only one thing: let's hope that Terrence doesn't wait other twenty years for another masterpiece!