Save The Thin Red Line

Rating: Null/10 (14 December 1998)

Citizen Kane. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Apocalypse Now. Raging Bull.
Add The Thin Red Line to that list of great genre-bending, bar-raising epics by true geniuses working at the top of their games. And then add this: Each of these films was misunderstood and abused by the critical establishment and the awards givers on their release. And years later all of these films were anointed by group after group and individual after individual who tried to pretend that they were always on the right side of the argument. If this happens to The Thin Red Line, it would be a tragedy.
The Thin Red Line is not for everyone. No truly great film is. But Terrence Malick, like Scorsese, Coppola (when not working for hire), Kubrick and Welles, is working on another level. This is not the pretentious work of a filmmaker trying to be an "artist," straining our patience with effort to play the genius. This is a meditation on God and man and the best and worst of what we are. The Thin Red Line the most intimate film about war ever made.
You can argue that it's "not my kind of film." You can argue that "there's not enough action for me." You can argue that you prefer Saving Private Ryan. But if you know anything about film, if you are really paying attention to this movie, if you aren't lost in the fog of the 200 other films that you saw this year, you have to know that Malick deserves your absolute respect, if not your undying admiration.
The reason that am writing about this is that the L.A. film critics have made it clear that they will be more than happy to bury this film. A film which they didn't see in it's final form because of the rush to get the film into screenings for critics awards. Now it is suffering not only negative local buzz, but vicious buzz. "Malick's never seen a leaf he didn't like." "It's the Heaven's Gate of the '90s." "It's Saving Private Ryan on acid."
When I saw the film, I was anxiously awaiting an over-inflated, way-too-long, troubled movie. What I saw was a film that improved with every frame. With every metaphor. And my rage began. I went to a second screening just to make sure that I wasn't somehow way off-base here. I wasn't. The film only got better.
To what depths has criticism fallen when the reaction to this film is to unsheath the knives and to prepare to kill this truly original work of art before it's even completely finished, much less released? (And, of course, these are the same people who are always going on about a lack of originality in studio films.) Have we all become so coarse that we rather slam something than embrace it?
The future of The Thin Red Line is now in the hands of a few select critics who get national attention. Maybe if a Spielberg and a Scorsese and other filmmakers stand up for Malick, they can help this movie turn the corner. (It would be a supremely selfless choice for Spielberg.) In the end, it won't be enough if "opinion makers" are embarrassed when the tide does turn on this film. And it will. There are few films worth opening your heart to in any given year. Few films that aspire to reach for more than a couple of hours of entertainment. The Thin Red Line is one of those films. Don't let "them" take it away from you before you've even decided whether it was worth the trip.