A juxtaposition of war and nature

Rating: 10/10 (6 April 1999)

In 1978 Terrence Malick released "Days of Heaven" which was heralded as one of the best films of the 1970's. Critics noticed that his other film, 1973's "Badlands" held many of the same characteristics.
Malick's pictures tend toward the meandering side of storytelling. Using characters as devices in a setting of such beauty and awe that the viewer is forced to read between the lines, the story isn't laid out for you to read plainly.
So goes his newest film "The Thin Red Line" which was nationally released on January 15th, 1999. Many criticisms of the film fall under categories such as: tedious, too long, pretentious, uneven, etc. The criticisms, though warranted in theory, simply have no basis.
In fact, "The Thin Red Line" tells a prodigiously epic story of men, some nameless, that have their guts shot out during the battle in 1942 on the Island of Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands.
Though the film does go from showing the lush nature and sense of "Eden" on one island to the carnage on another, if you follow closely, you'll see the point. The film needs no explaining, it's an anti-war film in the greatest sense.
Francois Truffaut once said that 'it's not possible to make an anti-war film, because all war movies, with their energy and sense of adventure, end up making combat look fun'. Had the great Truffaut lived to see Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line", I imagine he might recant that statement. "The Thin Red Line" is one of the best films of the 1990's.