This film is mesmorising...

Rating: 10/10 (8 November 1999)

I realised at the start of the film that it was not going to be about a story of a group of people in a war, or even a story at all. The film transports you by way of a disembodied voice to a place where all the profound contradictions of life are brought to our attention. It asks questions which films rarely dare to ask. The film is not really about war, or what happened on a little island in the Pacific, but it is about us - humans. War is the perfect setting for this kind of pensive observation of a number of people reacting to several events, but Malick does not allow combat scenes or even a simple plot to rule the movie. It allows you to therefore observe what is happening to the characters, their emotions, questions, and relationships with others.
The film confronts you with the raw nature of this earth. And it does not let up. I was still asking for more ... all the questions were left unanswered, left for us to ask, and find answers to (hopefully).
The best touch of the film was linking the Japanese to the Americans, i.e. linking what we may consider the 'good guys' with the 'bad guys'. The enemy are not faceless, evil animals, but people. And this film says it better than any other. This may not be your kind of film, but if you are sick of the glitzy, superficial and unneccessary films which have engulfed today's cinemas, it is a breath of fresh air.
If you are thinking of comparing it to Spielberg's film, please don't. This film is on a completely different (and higher) level, and has no intention of glorifying what happened in WWII. I give this film the highest recommendation I possibly could.