One of the best war movies ever made

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2008)

During a time when I subscribed to HBO, Thin Red Line was part of the line up of movies in rotation. I forget how many times I saw it but I never tired of its mixture of moody, meditative moments and some of the more exciting battle drama that I have seen on the screen. I saw it again recently and continued to be impressed with the depth of the story telling on multiple levels as well as the tour de force acting by among other Nick Nolte and Woody Harrelson.
I was struck this time at the entirely believable but detailed look at characters that were almost totally of their time, I felt as though these characters could very well have thought this way in these circumstances at that time in history.
Some of the commenters here who felt the movie was trivial or fit into the "war is hell" genre are missing much of the subtlety of this movie. Sure, war doesn't come out looking particularly good in the movie but that is not really the subject of the movie. The movie seems to be about exactly the battle of Guadalcanal and at the same time about the many individual psyches that are wrestling with their own private worlds in the context of the war. These personal battles as well as the collective battle draw up some big themes, which you as the watcher of the film are free to think about or to ignore as Malick also offers you a rich visual canvas and a compelling story to follow.
I believe the genius of this movie is that the famously rich Malick cinematography allows you to dart in and out of the story and/or the themes which it presents at your own pace and doesn't really drub you with "messages". Some may feel this movie has huge messages and it may be that Malick was trying to say something very specific with the movie. I tend to believe that he is more providing an opportunity for us to derive whatever messages we would like from the story and visuals.