Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2002)

Having seen this film in the theatre and now several times on DVD, this movie gains in stature with each subsequent viewing.
It is a meditation on war, a speculation on how it fits in the scheme of nature, if it does at all.... or is it evil? It is beautifully shot. All those gorgeous shots of fauna and flora are not just stunningly beautiful, but are central to the movie's theme and indeed serve as commentary on the action surrounding them, even ironic at times.
This movie is not meant to be patriotic or to give us an adrenaline rush (though it certainly has its tense action stretches). Indeed, the action to take a hilltop position on a grassy slope is certainly one of the most tense war sequences ever filmed...... perhaps we get the feel of what it is like to pursue and unseen enemy in bright sunlight in unexplored terrain..... perhaps because the enemy remains so imprecise..... fleeting distant figures yet close enough to kill or be killed. The heroics are real. So is the fear, the vanity, the care, the sacrifice..... also the betrayal, the irony.

The negative comments I have read on this site I think stem from disappointment by viewers not getting the movie they were expecting. This is no formulaic "action" war movie.... not a Dirty Dozen, Saving Pvt. Ryan, In Harm's Way..... good on their own terms as these may be. They should take a second look at Thin Red Line.... listen carefully to the various voice-overs.... wallow in the imagery..... let the movie unfold at its own pace and on its own terms. I bet they will see a very different movie from what they thought they had seen originally. I think they will be quite favourably impressed.
I think it is one of the greatest war-based movies ever made.