Saving ...

Rating: 10/10 (6 April 2007)

... the anti war movie from clichés ... That is what other movies did (SPR from the same year is just one example), building on clichés and not letting you see the enemy as humans. Here you see the enemy also as humans (one thing that Clint Eastwood might have achieved too in his two war movies, he did, with Flags of our Fathers and Letter from Iwo Jima). Or another big contrast you have here: Silence and Noise! The silence at the beginning of the movie is intolerable (maybe unbearable is the more appropriate word). Silence that is felt more so, when it gets loud ... and it does get loud. This is not to say that Terence Malick is exhausting every last drop of an action scene. Often times he even cuts away to a little episode, that involves one particular soldier.
Speaking of the soldier. The amount of big time actors that got involved with this movie, is proof enough, that there is more to this movie than the war it depicts! You might not even see some of the actors, because it's a blink-and-you will miss them appearance! Jim/James Caviezel is the main actor and he delivers a career highlight here. Everyone is talking about him playing in Passion of the Christ, but this one is the one he shines and has his breakthrough performance!
Edit: I had a chance to re-watch it on the big screen (International Festival in Berlin). And my admiration for this film only grew. The thin line between humanity/inhumanity, sanity/insanity and more contrasts are on display here. And you are still able to watch it as only a(n) (anti-)war movie. What I also realized on the second viewing, is the perfect "score" (no pun intended). The music is really a great factor in this movie.