the more real war

Rating: 9/10 (27 January 2006)

Terrence Malick is a thirsty man in search of water; cinema is his dowsing rod. And while in The Thin Red Line does not always bring forth what he is looking for, this artistic approach by itself makes the film more interesting, more firmly grounded in questions of humanity than your typical war film.
I am sure I do not need to thoroughly go over the mundane details of plot with you, dear educated reader. Malick tells the tale of the taking of Guadalcanal, interspersed with two outside visions, two islands of calm - one soldier's tropical paradise, another soldier's distant household. The course of this one large piece of the Pacific campaign is punctuated by realistically crafted battle scenes and monologues which give voice to the inner fears and anxieties of several characters.
The problem with a dowsing rod, however, is that although at times you are fortunate enough to find a well of insight, at times you can look a little silly getting the job done. Sometimes the voiceovers and the long-prolonged meaningful gaze can destroy the illusion of the film by being a bit too artsy with a capital A. There were a couple of times where I felt the psychological information conveyed in the voice-over was already present in the visual image, and redundant.
However, these are quibbles that only keep this film from becoming a personal favorite, and do not prevent it from greatness. What makes it great, to my mind, is that it does not glamorize or make idols of the soldiers of World War 2. If I watch a typical Hollywood world war 2 film starring, say, John Wayne, and I look at my grandfather, a genuine world war 2 veteran, I cannot reconcile the two. When my grandfather speaks of the war, one element is always remembered: the horror, the hell on earth aspect. As we see our group of soldiers hunkered down, protected from fire by a ridge and ordered to kill themselves in a futile head-on assault, when we see men fall to the ground without style or grace, when we see a man have a nervous breakdown after a battle, it becomes impossible to watch the film and be given the chance to "play soldier". War is hell. All of the really great war films, from Hell's Angels to Paths of Glory understood this fundamental truth, and exploited it for these dramatic qualities.
The combination of the truthfullness of the cinematic combat with the art-house sensibilities of Malick is a strange one, but ultimately more successful than not. As a director, Malick somehow manages to coax worthy performances from a bunch of no-names who are likely to go nowhere fast. He has the wisdom to realize that have a beach invasion take place during a bright sunny day is perhaps more frightening than a highly stylized overcast day, doom present in every large cloud. For we can relate to sunny, happy days.
All throughout the film, my interest was engaged, and although I never quite fell into its charms fully, I certainly appreciated the cinematic work of this Mr. Malick.