Surrealistic, exquisitely photographed, great acting, but...

Rating: 6/10 (23 March 1999)

I wouldn't go so far to call The Thin Red Line pointless, pretentious drivel (although at some points in the movie, it comes close). Parts of the movie did keep one on the edge of his seats, particularly the horrendous charge up the hill and ensuing squad level battle against enemy-held bunkers. But this movie is really in a totally different vein from Saving Private Ryan, in-your-face, overpowering scenes of utter carnage and chaos.
If nothing else, this movie simply did not make me feel the same way that SPR did. As brutal and graphic as SPR was, it made me feel a greater obligation to live life even more responsibly- having seen the enormous sacrifices made by people before my time. The movie made me feel that there was a purpose to the entire carnage- a noble conclusion that was reached at the end of the war. In fact, this experience was only later affirmed when I read Stephen Ambrose's Civilian Soldiers, which also makes mention of the Niland brothers that Saving Private Ryan was partly based on. But I only left Thin Red Line feeling depressed, that war was wasteful, stupid and of absolutely no value. Is this the message that we want to communicate to the soldiers, those of us, who may one day be entrusted to defend our countries against possible aggression?