Probably the best war film

Rating: 10/10 (10 April 2019)

The best comparison between The Thin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan I read was a YouTube comment, which said something to the effect of: "Before I went to war, Saving Private Ryan made sense; after I came back from war, The Thin Red Line made sense." Through a rotating cast of characters, mostly American soldiers fighting in Guadalcanal, Terrence Malick shows us what each person thinks about within and of war. Or rather, he shows us what each person would think about if gifted with the voice and ability of a poet. An odd movie comparison is Wings of Desire. Both try to express the poetic reality of people within a certain environment, one in post-war Berlin, one in war-torn Pacific. "If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack," says one soldier. "I want to come back to you the man I was before," says another in a letter to his wife. I loved this film. I loved its beauty, I loved its poetry, I loved its deep feeling for people. I haven't even mentioned the cinematography, which is gorgeous. Or the soundtrack. Or the acting. Everything is terrific. The closest the movie comes to a main character is Jim Caviezal's Pvt. Witt, who quotes Faulkner in the early portions of movie and asks if maybe all men got one big soul. Lovely. I highly recommend to anyone, even people who might not like war films.