Wonderful, poetic film

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 1999)

10 stars / 10 stars
I settled the house at about 9:45pm, popped the tape into the VCR and went outside for a cigarette during the previews.
When the movie came on I settled down in the comfy reclining chair, turned off the lights, and stared. From the first few seconds of the film I knew I'd be hooked.
It seemed to me like a big, long poem, narrated by several different characters, but all being "one consciousness," as was said in the movie. Every man talking, one man's consciousness.
I was especially floored by the caliber of acting in the movie. Every soldier's eyes told the story, it was almost as if dialogue wasn't necessary. The two young soldiers especially affected me. The fear in each of their eyes was so real.
The cinematography was amazing. I remember clearly one scene, right after a bloodbath, where one soldier, shot up with bullets, looks up to a leaf, eaten away by bugs, as full of holes as the man. It was breathtaking.
I was worried, reading a lot of comments from people over the last couple days, that the storyline would be hard-to-follow. It wasn't. If you watch the movie as a whole, it made perfect sense. The entire movie, to me, seemed like a metaphor for human emotion. War, and the need to avenge others, is one of the most basic human emotions. One of the narratives said something like "Is there any avenging in nature?" Wow. I was so floored by the whole movie.
OK, on to the couple things I didn't like about the movie: I knew about 75% of the actors in the movie, and most of their "public image" didn't even come into play. I was able to see past Sean Penn, Ben Chaplin, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody and Elias Koteas as actors and really get into them being merely soldiers in a battle.
On the other hand, there were three actors who's other roles and image that I couldn't get past and, in my opinion, brought me back to reality: John Travolta, Woody Harrelson and George Clooney. I wish they hadn't been in there because my "spell" was broken each time I saw them.
Now, as for John Cusack. I saw this movie specifically because he was in it. I probably would not have rented it if it weren't for him. I am *so* glad I did! He was great, but it wasn't his best performance. The "eyes" scene that people are talking about with him was good, but too short to make an impact on me. And I feel the other "eyes" scenes were better. But he was great in the actual battle scene, and his screen time was longer than I thought it would be.
Don't see this movie if you're only looking for one thing - war. See it for the whole experience. If you watch it waiting to see blood and gore, you'll miss out on a great movie.
It has to easily be the best "war film" I have seen, and quite possibly one of the best movies I've ever seen. I saw Saving Private Ryan and when I did, I thought it should have won the Oscar for everything. Then I saw The Thin Red Line.
How this movie got snubbed is beyond me. Nominated for the following: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Adaptation, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Dramatic Score, Best Sound. It won NONE! None? Cinematography and Editing should have been no-brainers!
BOTTOM LINE: Not a shoot-em-up war film, but a poetic lesson in humanity.