If we Just show the world how soft we are, maybe they will all go soft too

Rating: Null/10 (22 July 2001)

Being reluctant to go to war is universal. That is one way that we know not everyone is capable of bravery. This is part of what marks the hero as distinct from the ordinary man.
Who amongst us does not agree that war is hell? We can safely consign those who do not think it a monsterous terror to the any number of of debilitating mental disorders.
It is a common ritual for north american, and european males to denounce it. To be clear, this sort of wallpaper must be distinct from true sensitivity. True sensitivity involves an appreciation of colour, form, emotion, art the weather...etc. It permits one to imagine the feelings, and suffering of others. True sensitivity is what causes us to create.
The sort that makes drunken boys declare war to be uncool at parties is to be mistrusted.We may forgive a man, or film director who in the name of getting some female attention goes a bit too soft.

It is with this falsetto voice The Thin Red Line is narrated. Not that the movie does not have a sense of beauty. But, beauty is not truth. Nor, is it philosophy. Often it tugs at our hearts, while fogging our minds.
The Thin Red Line has certain other problems. One is dialogue. Many times the soldiers's words do not strike one as belonging to 1945 mainly rural GIs.

Their attitudes are contemporary, and lack the formality of the class, and rank divisions that were prevalent at the time. One simply did not mouth off to the "Top" Sgt, and expect nothing to come of it. The captain was not your buddy.
Even the hairstyles are out of place. Either that or, this particular unit had a brigade of stylists and a vat of hair gel at their disposal.
But, it is the little-boy-don't-wanna-go-to-war message that weighs it down most.
Don't get me wrong, it is not a bad movie. I am on my 3rd viewing.
But it is not a deep philosophical work, either.