Beautifully made war film

Rating: 10/10 (12 March 2020)

My friends and I all went to see both 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'The Thin Red Line' when they were released at the cinema in the same year. Of course, we all thought 'Saving Private Ryan' was better. I say, "of course", because the philosophy of 'The Thin Red Line' was largely lost on our youthful, teenage minds. As the years have passed, and I've seen both movies more than once more, I've decided that not only is 'The Thin Red Line' better than 'Saving Private Ryan' (which is still an excellent war movie, and the brutally of war at beach scene at Normandy at the beginning is superbly captured), it's my favourite war movie of all time. I won't go into ant major details here, but I think this film is just so beautifully captured and moving, and poetically sums up that war is indeed hell. My words cannot really explain why I like it so much. At least part of it is that director Terrence Malik manage to effe the capture in the eyes of some of the actors playing these soldiers a look of sheer horror and terror in their eyes, which I don't recall seeing in any other war film. It is said that the eye are the windows to our souls, and I doubt that such a look would've been rare in the theatre of war, especially the two Great Wars of the 20th century, which can be largely summed up as men charging into lead. I find it odd that this is the only war film I've seen which effectively demonstrates the look that would surely have been prevalent in the eyes of men in these conditions. Of course, there are other reasons why I love this film. The musical score and effects by Hans Zimmer is up to his usual high standards. Just watch this wonderful anti-war movie and judge for yourself.