"If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack. A glance from your eyes . . . and my life will be yours."

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2019)

A Museum of Artistic Accomplishment in Cinema (M.A.A.C.) Review
The Thin Red Line / Director: Terrence Malick / Career Catalog #4 / Review #0006
8/10
A company of American soldiers hope to turn the tide of war while fighting against the Japanese in the hills of Guadalcanal. The opening shot of an alligator descending into a swamp is a masterful allegory on the soldier and the habitat into which his soul sinks during wartime. Honestly a tranquil, meditative journey is not usually the chosen approach for a film about combat. However, Terrence Malick does a wonderful job of exploring deeper meanings and deeper consequences than most other directors in his position. In his hands, there's something truly freeing about the condemnation of war. It's not just an angry damning of war's incivilities, it's a reflective contemplation on the insanities and misfortunes soldiers endure while trying to find a point within the pointlessness of armed conflict.
The violence, when present, is frightening and realistic but it's the tension in between battles that articulates the underlying horrors of war. The patience. The waiting. The slow crawl from one patch of terrain to the next, always uncertain as to which direction the bullet with your name on it may come from. Never sure how far your commanding officer will be willing to push you above and beyond your call of duty. Malick was gifted with an incredible cast and he seems to effortlessly guide them through some of their greatest performances. Nick Nolte, Ben Chaplin, and Elias Koteas are particular stand-outs, although Sean Penn also delivers another in a long line of career highlights.
Visually, this is one of the most striking war films I've seen this side of the Atlantic. Not since the days of Abel Gance's "J'Accuse!" and Georg Wilhelm Pabst's "Westfront 1918" have I had more haunting images burned into my memories. The accompanying score provided by Hans Zimmer sets each scene perfectly, accentuating the stress, the panic, and the mind-numbing brutality of life on the front lines. There's no smarmy sentimentality or forced patriotism here. There's just an impartial peek into the lives of the downtrodden who trudge wearily through what feels like an endless landscape of pain and suffering.
Malick's film was one of two major World War II blockbusters released in 1998, the other being Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan." I've always found it funny that cinema fans seem to be drawn into two camps, solidly backing one film or the other. For me, both films are remarkable examples of filmmaking and I love them both equally, albeit for different reasons. Overall, the sensitivity with which the subject matter in "The Thin Red Line" is portrayed is genuinely affecting and stays with the viewer well after the film has ended. Possibly Malick's best work, this should be seen by anyone who wants to acquire a more profound understanding regarding the ravages of war.
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