One of the most amazing, profound films of all time. No joke!

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 1999)

Frankly, all the bad reviews and the befuddled viewers confuses and saddens me. This film is one of the most original, profound films ever made, an experimental art house film on an epic canvas and it's a tragedy that people don't like it. I think, however, that the strong opinions of some is a testament to the film's power. I don't like to hear of "dime store variety philosophy." Terrence Malick was a Rhode scholar, Harvard-Oxford educated, MIT philosophy professor who at 21, went to Germany and actually helped Hiedegger (perhaps the most important philosopher since Kant) translate his works. The people who say the symbolism (dying bird, et al.) is hackneyed and cheesy, but these are the same people who think that Scorsese's steaming manhole at the begging of Taxi Driver is a profound visual symbol. Come on! The Thin Red Line subverts our expectations and crosses the boundaries of genre and narrative. You really do get to know the characters, understand their feelings in the insantiy of war. Thing is, war is a buddy, buddy situation. When you're there, you don't get to know anyone very well because anyone can die at any given moment, and part of being a soldier is coming to an understanding of this. Emotions are internalized, held back. Not like Saving Private Ryan, where everyone has a story to tell, a memory to share. Of course Tom Hanks is a school teacher, of course the bible totting sharp-shooter is a southerner (think the University of Texas at Austin tower killings). To make him from Chicago would have been original!!! We know these characters as well as they know each other, and their love is unconditional, they are all in it together. Malick creates a new cinematic vocabulary , and in the process attempts to do something that no filmmaker has ever done....that is change the world, change the way we think, the way we understand our place, being, and time. Indeed, as Bell says of love, "who lit this flame in us." Taken superficially, as an action/war film Malick displays rare talents. We see bullets wizzing by for crying out loud. The scene where every soldier is obscured by fog is genius. Spielburg turns war into Indiana Jones (Spielburg's gun on gun stand off between Nazi and GI Joe is insulting givin the seriousness of the situation and cliche when you think of the fact that Tarrentino and all his disciples have done it a thousand and one times). There is none of that in Thin Red Line. Look at the facial expressions in Thin Red Line, the memories, how these beautiful souls are trying to stay pure in Hell. I'm thinking of John Cusak's face before the attack, of Witt's face, of Jared Leto's face as he realizes he has just sent two men to their deaths. This is power. The music, the cinematography, the writing are perfect.....and despite what they say, it is very, very close to the novel, right down to moments of dialgoue....."Worse thing you can do, worse than rape," is word for word James Jones. It is also the first war film where the "enemy" is portrayed in a way as to suggest that in an alternate universe, there is a movie about the Japanese holding up in their bunker, watching thousands of Americans approach them - and the two films meet. Note how there is not one flag in the film, and only cursory mention of "japs." My thoughts race when I think of this film and I don't know where to begin. I've seen it 3 times already since it came out and I want to see it again. This film will not be forgotten. Everyone should see it to realize there are no "good wars," "just wars." War is a crime against civilization, a crime against nature, and a crime against being itself. Only Malick has ever really said that.