One of Earth's Great Treasures.

Rating: Null/10 (14 November 1999)

This is one of the few films that actually has the power to change the way one thinks and goes about his or her life. It certainly has all the philosophical weight of Kubrick's best films, coupled with Malick's own unearthly wizardry at making nature a living, rippling, beautiful beast. Malick certainly reaches a creative bit of transcendence here, as this film has a narrative structure somewhere between BADLANDS and DAYS OF HEAVEN and really seems to go beyond anything that DAYS even touched.

As for its sad comparisons to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (which was NOT an anti-war film,) they should be written off. SPR can't touch this work; it's in a different league, made for different people. THE THIN RED LINE spares no expense and really paints a complete picture of existence on this planet in the WWII macromicrocosm. The final shot is one of the best, most piercing, most life-affirming pieces of art ever. I get teary just thinking about this film. I just wish it, along with 2001, would have a shrine in which they could be shown all the time.
If Malick makes another film, I fear he might simply implode in an infinitely small, dazzlingly bright explosion of pure art.

If I could save five films for the post-apocalyptic world, this would be one, along with 2001, DR. STRANGELOVE, ROUGE. . .and BIODOME. You know. For like, instructions.