Equal parts spiritual and horrifying

Rating: 9/10 (29 May 2012)

Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line" (1998) details the experiences of an American platoon during the battle of Guadalcanal in the SW Pacific during December/January 1942-43. The heart of the picture covers the taking of a grassy hill protected by Japanese bunkers; but that's only the surface of "The Thin Red Line," as this isn't a normal war flick in the least.
The film features an all-star cast with cameos by the likes of John Travolta and George Clooney. Nick Nolte shines as the gung-ho Col. Tall, who wants to take the hill ASAP whatever the cost. This is his first war engagement and he lusts for glory. Meanwhile "softhearted" Capt. Staros (Elias Koteas) resists sending his men on an obvious suicide mission and insists on a less-costly strategy to taking the hill.
Some of the men are so defiled by the war that they can't feel anything anymore, for example Sgt. Storm, played by John Reilly, whereas a few haven't lost their spiritual bearings, like Pvt. Witt (Jim Caviezel); others are somewhere in between the darkness and the light, e.g. Sgt. Welsh (Sean Penn).
Other standouts include Ben Chaplin as Pvt. Bell, who's dearly devoted to a wife who may or may not deserve it (Miranda Otto); Dash Mihok as the incredibly courageous Pfc. Doll, who wildly leads the way in taking the bunkers; and John Cusack as the bold Capt. Gaff, who's simply speechless in the face of Col. Tall's asinine antics.
Other notables include Woody Harrelson, Adrien Brody, Jared Leto and Nick Stahl.
COMMENTARY: As noted above, "The Thin Red Line" is not a conventional war flick, so stay away if that's the type of movie you want to see. The battle of Guadalcanal is merely a stage for Malick to explore the nature of the human experience and, in fact, life itself. Why is nature at war with itself, from the smallest animals to people? Where does evil come from? What is love? Why do we feel it? Who is the Divine? What is the nature of the Creator? Why are we poisoned by war? What is death and why do we fear it? For that matter, why do we have to die? How can we keep from being defiled by strife and war? Malick shows both the beauty of the world and human existence as well as its horrors. We cannot change the way this world is and must therefore face the inevitable conflicts; the only thing we can control is our response to this ongoing war, like Caviezel's Pvt. Witt.
As you can see, the film explores the noblest and darkest reaches of the human heart and experience. As such, it's a picture that keeps giving no matter how many times you've watched it. In other words, it's full of hidden gems to glean with each viewing.
In contrast to the contemporaneous "Saving Private Ryan," "The Thin Red Line" has a slow start with an uneventful beach landing; it also has a mellow ending, but the center's full of brutal war horror even while its heart is deeply meditative and reverent. If that sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, see the film and you'll understand what I mean. In the end "The Thin Red Line" towers alone in the annals of war cinema, a deeply spiritual triumph. There's really nothing else like it.
FYI: The film was shot on location in Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands, and Australia and runs 2 hours, 50 minutes.
GRADE: A