War Film With More Brains Than Blood

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2008)

Life is good. Life makes man. Man makes war. War is bad. What's going on here?
That's my attempt at summarizing the basic concept behind "The Thin Red Line", a film that defies summarization as it probes nature's dense duality in the vast jungles of Guadalcanal. In 1942, American forces arrived there to check the Japanese advance during World War II.
Lt. Col. Tall (Nick Nolte) wants to prove his ability to win victories in combat to his superiors, for whom he holds a grudge. Capt. Staros (Elias Koteas) wants to know he won't betray the men of the company under his command, and protect as many of them as possible. Sgt. Welsh (Sean Penn) and Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel) are locked in their own struggle over the meaning of life, Welsh avowing his nihilism while Witt maintains a greater purpose and meaning.
"You're gonna be alright," Witt reassures a hit comrade at one point. "Even if you die."
There's many other subplots in this dense film. Terrence Malick returned from 20 years' hibernation with this adaptation of the classic James Jones novel. It's overlong and ponderous, but surprisingly rewatchable and full of the visual poetry that makes Malick so beloved by film buffs.
Actually, I was amazed by the sound on this film, too, especially a sequence where Army soldiers make their first advance on the summit of Hill 210. The sound of Sgt. Whyte's (Jared Leto) rustling fabric and snapping gum as the breeze rustles through high grass is about as suspenseful as any musical background, knowing gunfire from Japanese entrenchments will soon follow.
Malick puts together some incredible combat sequences, including one led by Tall's prize underling Gaff (John Cusack) about as viscerally exciting as anything from a John Wayne movie. But the action sequences aren't really what "The Thin Red Line" is about, nor is camaraderie, though both are addressed. It gets back to a kind of questing philosophy, the nature of man, of war, and of nature itself.
Other reviewers here discern conclusions as well as questions, in the way Malick handles things. I think it's pretty open-ended, another reason "Thin Red Line" stands out. Tall, for example, appears at one moment a nasty piece of work whose orders suggest a total remove from the suffering of his men. (Tall telling Staros to advance into heavy gunfire for me is about as stomach-turning as "Thin Red Line" gets, and testament to Nolte's overall brilliance.) But his frontal approach to command is not without merit.
"Nature is cruel," Tall says, and, for his purposes, he's totally right. It's just we still understand and appreciate Staros' hesitation as more than soft-heartedness.
I think the film gets away from Malick a couple of times, and have little interest in seeing the six-hour director's cut people talk about here. But it's a terrific overall experience, one that will only grow in stature over time. Caviezel's later turn as Jesus in "Passion Of The Christ" invests his performance as Witt with greater meaning. Even the long voice-over narrations fell more on point with re-watchings.
"You ever get lonely?" Witt asks Welsh. "Only around people" he replies.
"Thin Red Line" is a film where the questions provide more insight than the answers. In the end, you feel enlightened somehow all the same.