An 8 out of 10

Rating: 8/10 (31 December 1998)

For Spielberg, the world's most popular filmmaker, it's only natural to indulge in fraudulent pomposity and shameless audience manipulation. Terrence Malick, who hasn't yet experienced the pitfalls of fame, is in a way, a direct opposite. In 1998's second WWII epic, TRL (concentrating on the battle for Guadacanal in the Pacific phase of the war) , he proves to be a nonconformist to the bone, delivering a highly personal, uncompromising vision and sacrificing such essential principles as a coherent narrative structure for the sake of his individualism. Many of the world's greatest directors were rebels with a cause , creating masterpieces in their own unique styles, but with Malick, unfortunately, this is not the case. His bending of the rules does not amount to a satisfying whole: never surpassing Saving Private Ryan, the film is often frustrating and downright incomprehensible. TRL seems to completely disobey the laws of cinematic physics: after an excruciating middle sequence, the movie loses momentum and continues for another hour without a climax in sight, alienating and bewildering the viewers, instead of channeling their intensity towards a final, necessary release. The lopsided, barely visible conclusion fails to involve them. What further complicates matters is the often indistinguishable off-camera narrations by at least five different characters: keeping track of all the perspectives is a daunting task, in a film riddled with faces that quickly dissapear from view and from the plot. Famous actors (Travolta, Clooney, Harrelson): appear for as little as a minute each, unnecessarily distracting from the rest of the cast, since they have no time to develop a character that can replace their own public images as big stars. While most of the soldiers are not walking stereotypes, like in SPR all are underdeveloped, leaving us in hopes of a deeper investigation. Finally, the nature of the voice-overs is often banal and is much better left unsaid. The universal questions about the relationship between nature and humanity, good and evil, and the like, should arise in the viewer's mind without additional sonic assistance, since Malick's images speak for themselves. Eventually, his philosophical asides become forced and cliched, much like Spileberg's tearjerking patriotism. The positive aspects of the film cannot, in the long run, overshadow the negative ones, but they do offer us an experience not easily forgotten. TRL is shot from an unseen observer's point of view, constantly zooming in on priceless details: some horryfying and some touching in their realism. The mis-en-scenes and individual frames, depicting men in their primordial surroundings with intricate and violent beauty, can only be likened to those of Kurosawa. Some 100 minutes or so, form a protruded battle scene: the storming of the Japanese hilltop fortification and the pillage of their encampment. This "middle sequnece" is nothing short of absolute brilliance. Often lapsing into an almost "Doom"-like stlyle of some deranged, esoteric videogame, the camera explores the "green hell" that is Malick's vision of war. The incredible tension generated by this assault soon dies down, and never quite regains itself, leaving the audience numb for the remaining hour. Any anticipation of a fitting conclusion, a final cathartic battle, remains unfulfilled. But all flaws aside, the director should be given full credit for making a challenging , unconventional film without any commercial aspirations (except, perhaps, the all-star cast). While Spielberg begins his work with a plot device, overblown and predictable; TRL opens with a single symbolic image: stirring and original.