Thin Red is all Ryan wanted to be.

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 1999)

First; I'm not american. But that doesn't make me an arty eurofilm lover. Quite the contrary; I love american movies.
But in that final shot of Saving Private Ryan, when that sole american flag waved in slo-mo in closeup, it made me sick. I'll be the first to admit that USA saved us europeans from Hitlers terror, and we are forever grateful for that. But that last shot ruined everything, because what Spielberg told us was in fact this; The only ones who paid the great price on the "altar of freedom" were americans. The 20 million russians or the 6 million french and the countless brits (and germans) that did the same are, by that ending, reduced to nothing. So only american parents lost someone they loved? Frankly, it's an insult.
And that's why The Thin Red Line is such a masterful film. Because it tells that whoever dies, we all lose. There's no winning in war. So what's new, you might ask? We all know war is hell. Yeah, but this is the first war movie I've ever seen where that's made the sole point. All the other ones SHOW you war is hell, but ultimately TELLS you that it's "worth the sacrifice in the end". No such thing here. And that is why people are going to keep talking about this masterpiece long after the negative to SPR is lost.
Do I have to add that there isn't a single bad performance in the film? Or that the cinematography is going to win an Oscar?