The Hero's Journey

Rating: Null/10 (10 March 2000)

It is difficulties that show what men are. -Epictetus Discourses
Terrence Malick's epic film TRL uses the WWII South Pacific battle at Guadalcanal to reveal the powerful interplay between emotional conflicts encountered by the human pysche. It is this harsh yet magnificently sublime backdrop where uninitiated young men struggle with the trials of FEAR, DESIRE, and SOCIAL DUTY that Transformation Consciousness.
Malick meets this abstract challenge by employing poetic metaphors such as WATER (The Sea) representing the Unconscious mind and LAND representing the Conscious mind. The dynamics between the conscious and unconscious are revealed through the Hero's Adventure.
EXAMPLES: PRIVATE WITT's TRANSFORMATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The Conflict --- Fear of Death Vs Social Duty to Serve ...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - FDR First Inaugural Address
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in truth!-Sophoceles' Oedipus Rex
The Hero's Adventure- Witt is a compassionate fellow who isn't interested in the war into which he was drafted, having gone AWOL several times. He isn't quite ready to face death. Yet he recognizes his pressing social duty to serve in the military system. He reflects on the last moments of his mother's death, fearing the death he saw in her, but intrigued by her "strange calm". What was her secret? How does one transform consciousness to achieve inner peace at the time of death? How does one get rid of fear, those overwhelming, unwelcome feelings emanating from one's "vestigial" limbic system, the crocodile brain? Can CONSCIOUS willpower triumph in a battle with this UNCONSCIOUS "crocodile"? Is everything in nature conflicted, pairs of opposites?
The Symbolism of Water-- Witt comments to a Melanesian mother that the child she is holding looks tired. The Melanesian mother replies, " If he swims, he will sleep"--- This is NOT small talk; Instead, it cues the metaphor --- WATER in the film represents the UNCONSCIOUS MIND; afterall, we are unconscious when we sleep. (Hmm!)
At this point we know why Malick began the film with a crocodile crawling into the water.... one topic of this film deals with the powerful, dangerous, primitive emotions of the human unconsciousness which reside in the reptilian remnants of our brains. Are we at their mercy? What happens when we fail to live out of our unconscious nature? Does War ensue?
Witt gets the adventure he is ready for.....along comes a patrol ship scouting the waters..... and Witt allows himself to get caught. Metaphorically speaking, Witt and the patrol ship IS Jonah and the Whale. Witt's consciousness is about to be transformed through such an encounter. In the (brig) Belly of the Whale, Witt meets up with Welsh, his commanding officer. We hear a bell tolling.... how strange, in a ship?.... For Whom does this bell toll? Witt's back in the war as a stretcher bearer.
Through the film we see Witt compassionately tending to the wounded, in one case pouring water over a soldier's head, as if to acknowledge his Baptism By Fire. It is through these acts of compassion that Witt experiences something quite unexpected.....a peek at beauty or radiance in death; a concept not obvious to the intellect but known only through the heart. Death is a necessary part of life---it is not to be rejected.
Welsh advises Witt a couple times to just look out for himself; don't try to save anyone else. But surprise! -Welsh is NOT an egoist afterall. Later in the film, Welsh risks life and limb to deliver morphine to an agonizing soldier in the heat of battle. Why? Well, it isn't for a medal. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, suggests this heroism of a person risking everything for a total stranger occurs because in that instant, on an unconscious level, the hero recognizes that he and the stranger really are ONE. Hence we get implications throughout the film that although we appear as individuals, on a deeper, unconscious level we are One Spirit......a bit Buddhist. Furthermore, once we intuitively grasp this concept, our view of the world and how we behave in it, will change.
Witt tries to crack Welsh's tightly clenched Ego with personal chats, getting him to OPEN UP; in their final talk, the open bird cage symbolizes the opening of one's ego to another. Welsh's cigarette (as well as flames, sparks or camp fires etc.elsewhere in the film) is employed to symbolize radiance, this bond of love and care. Welsh questions Witt's maverick style -- "Who you makin' trouble for today.......well, isn't that what you like to do, turn left when they say go right?"
Welsh didn't understand that Witt accepted social duty, but only on Witt's terms---- by serving responsibly and with compassion, even for the supposed enemy.(Offering gum to Japanese soldiers) Witt would not let a System such as the Military deny his humanity. It takes a very evolved person to attain this level of interpersonal sophistication......a level not readily appreciated by the character, Tall, who lived his life according to "THE SYSTEM" which denied his humanity. (See corporate ladder climbers of today)
Shortly later, Witt is surrounded by gun toting Japanese. After summing up his predicament, he CALMLY accepts his death. His consciousness had been transformed...... a hero, indeed......paid for with his life ..BUT NOT "HIS" END.... soon we see images of Witt swimming in Water... and children, the hint of reincarnation.... innocence reborn.
Captain Staros is another hero who transcended his social duty to obey a command thereby saving his "sons" from almost certain death---he paid for it by losing his command, but he had been true to himself and protective of the men who relied on his direction. Water is again used metaphorically when Captain Staros leaves the soldiers to fly home. He says the soldiers will always be with him, where ever he goes... The film then shows soldiers jumping around in the ocean......i.e. Staros will always have memories of the soldiers.....memories stored in his unconscious mind.