An Attempt at Something Impossible

Rating: 3/10 (16 March 2002)

"The Thin Red Line" is one of my least favorite war films (though there are only a handful I found to be worthwhile). But there is one good quality, which unfortunately is part of its downfall; and that quality is its ensemble of characters. The men here are guys you could get to know, and vividly portrayed. However, the film makes a critical mistake when going too deep into the personalities of these characters--they all seem to have a unanimous attitude towards war, and a similar emotional disfigurement because of it. The fact is, it is impossible to determine a general reaction (dare I use a made-up word "aftershock feeling") among a group of soldiers in war. You just can't guess, "Here, you all felt this way, right?", because it's usually wrong, not to mention naive. War affects each man and woman involved in a different way and, though two feelings about it may seem in the same vein, no two experiences are the same, whether you've served in the same platoon, squad, or not. I can't be sure if "The Thin Red Line" attempts to generalize a personal feeling intentionally or unintentionally, but whatever the situation, the film fails to bring any realism to its subject.