Elegant, Eloquent, Overlooked

Rating: 10/10 (24 April 2001)

This film is a masterpiece.
The Thin Red Line is a dance between Poetry and Philosophy that has the courage to ask us to examine the scope of humanity, in a war set in Paradise. What you take away from this film is unequivocally yours. Yes, this is a long film. In return, you get the limits of human experience in its rawest, most visceral form. You see painted sunsets and swim in crystal water simply because we as humans revel in beauty, and you'll see blood pour from wounds because we're capable of that too. You may fail to notice, but you'll be spared Spielberg's Spiky Club O' Morals, and the subtlety associated with that. I promise you won't miss the indignity of seeing a fullscreen American flag waving over the remains of the universally dead.
See this movie. Stay to observe the tragic farce of dying at the top of a ridge from something as inglorious as dehydration, only to receive more than you can drink when they sprinkle the green grass over your grave. Stay for the look on John Cusack's face when he's risked his and other's lives to be told "You don't know what it feels like to be passed up.." If for nothing else, stay to see the one film that can pull off a scene with a woman on a swing without cliche.
Will you enjoy this movie? Maybe, maybe not, The Thin Red Line is definitely not a casual entertainment, but even if it counts for nothing, I consider this the best film of all time. 10/10
(.. did you notice the birdcage? :)