Beats a day a Disneyland

Rating: Null/10 (17 October 1999)

I recently saw Terrence Malick's first film in 20 years and what can I say - unbelievable. We saw two war films come out in 1998, "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Thin Red Line". While most Americans were shocked by war yet fell in love with Spielberg's seemingly realistic approach to it, there were the select few, mainly filmmakers and critics, who saw something more special in Malick's film.
I was like most Americans, captivated by such beautiful yet gruesome depiction of WWII that I was not willing to agree that any movie could be better. I watched in awe during the opening sequence as young, confident soldiers took the beach with their skills only to be shot down as quickly as they stood up. When I watched "Private Ryan" for the second time, there was something missing. The war looked real in the film. The performances were great. So what was it? Character development.
I decided since I had lost my feelings for this "great" war film that I would check out the other war film of 1998. I was blown away. It had the feeling and emotion that I had only seen in one other film before - "All Quite on the Western Front." Terrence Malick created raw emotion or what I would like to call moving poetry. What kept people watching "Private Ryan" was the battles and how they looked through the viewer's eyes. But what kept people watching "Thin Red Line" was what went on through the soldier's eyes; what the soldier's felt in their hearts.
I can't quite explain the raw emotion which I felt because I felt different about the film that my friends did. We all liked it, but each and every one of us became attached to one or another character for different reasons. For anyone who reads this, who is looking to get touched, check out this film. It is slow at times, it's not an action film. What it is though is a perfect example of seeing into a soldier's psyche.