Mallick's brilliantly stylized lens of war, men and nature

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2013)

In "The Thin Red Line" director Terrence Mallick has chosen a well-known war novel by James Jones and given us a brilliant vision that combines the interaction of war and nature along with the thoughts and actions of men in a crystalline organic drama. Much in the way Frank Lloyd Wright created his "organic architecture", a confluence of the site, native building materials and utilitarian form and structure that defined the style, Mallick has graced his audience with an amoebic creation containing the unlikely and intolerant co-mingled elements of nature, war and man.
Much of the criticism of the film's content and style seems to stem from the opinion that war movies must be realistic, faithful to historic review and in this case, loyal to the writings of the author of "The Thin Red Line", James Jones. Mallick is an artist of film making and if this is the form we seek to understand, it would appear that he has triumphed beyond the highest zenith of this time-honored genre.
By contrasting the natural cinematic beauty of the landscape and people of Guadalcanal against the hellish realism of war, Mallick has successfully fused the emotions of, about and between men caught in this impossible situation with the use of narrative voice-overs, a technique he previously mastered in his two other films, "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven". With the main characters thoughts being shared and shaped gradually throughout the film, the actors and the audience experience the growth of emotions simultaneously. This can be viewed by skeptics as manipulative or it can be viewed as powerfully soulful and heartfelt, while building magnificent character studies that transcend war itself. This is the risk and daring that sets Mallick apart from his more popular counterpart, Steven Spielberg and his sentimental saga, "Saving Private Ryan".
The viewer must either jump aboard for this thrilling, gut-wrenching ride of insightful fulfillment or emotionally abandon ship in favor of the memory of logically safe and realistic dramas that are recognized as the hallmarks of our treasured war film library. I would suggest that many viewers seem to take the easy way out and reject Mallick's art as frivolous and ill-conceived. I would, however, recommend that you whole-heartedly sign on without turning back to experience Mallick's tour of brilliance. It's the only way to discover the true greatness of this film or to even possibly consider it as one of the finest war films ever made.