Number 5 on my all-time list

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 1999)

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said? It seems to arouse the most violent emotions, either for it or against it. Personally, I see it as one of the most impressive movies ever. The range and intensity of emotions evoked by the experience of watching this movie is incredible. Mallick is a movie-making genius. It is truly like nothing else I have ever seen. Like Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, The Shawshank Redemption and a few others, it leaves an indelible mark on the viewer, one that lasts far after the initial viewing.
It is unfortunate that this film was released so soon after Saving Private Ryan (which is another great film, though not to my mind on the level of The Thin Red Line), because the comparisons become unavoidable. However, the movies are very different, except for their subject matter. Perhaps the impact that SPR had on audiences made them unreceptive to another war movie, but I don't think that adequately explains the largely negative reception TRL received. I can't explain this reaction, nor why TRL was not awarded a single Oscar, even though it was a far superior movie to anything else that was running against it.
The brilliant non-linear narrative of TRL may also have something to do with it, which may be confusing to some viewers. However, if you are willing to look beyond the typical constraints imposed on most movies by unimaginative directors and commercial demands, what you get is a motion picture that is truly unique. It offers insights not only into war but into human nature itself. This is The Thin Red Line. The movie's use of voice-overs and repeated forays into scenes that don't flow like most Hollywood films has been called boring and obtrusive. I found it to be a wonderful technique that is much more along the lines of how the human mind operates. Memory, emotion and experience are conveyed in a way that is probably impossible in the traditional structures of Hollywood movie-making.
To put in one way, after viewing both TRL and SPR, I had the feeling that while SPR re-invented the war movie, TRL re-invented the movie itself. I would strongly recommend this movie to anyone. Rating: 10.