A modern masterpiece.

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2003)

***SPOILERS IN REVIEW***
Hauntingly beautiful in every regard, Terrence Malick's third film to date, 'The Thin Red Line' is cinematic bliss. A study of life, death and war in nature, the film traces American soldiers fighting in the South Pacific  the Guatemala Canal  and their fight for survival. Told from several perspectives, the film relies occasionally on voiceovers, something that can sound the death knell for films when used in a lazy fashion. These voiceovers, especially that of Jim Caviezel's character Private Witt, actually assist the viewer, lending us a heightened sense of compassion for these men, most of whom see the futility and waste of war. Different from Spielberg's war opus, 'Saving Private Ryan'  the films are often unfairly compared due to their sharing the same year of release  Malick's film does not rely so heavily on the lauded action set pieces that made Spielberg's film seemingly everybody's new favourite war' film. Sure, there's action in 'The Thin Red Line', but in between the shoot em ups, we aren't bored by the philosophical ponderings of the characters, unlike the generally trite reflections contained in 'Saving Private Ryan'. (I should probably point out at this point, for fear of being labelled merely as a Spielberg hater' that I actually like most of Spielberg's films)
Some scenes are fuelled by the conflict between the warring nations, others drift along solely on the genuine emotion on show. The scene in which Witt (Caviezel) is surrounded by Japanese soldiers is among the most emotionally affecting I can think of; it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Such emotional expressions in the film are not rare, with the voice-over ruminations, flash backs to happier days for Ben Chaplin's character and the soulful music adding considerable emotional weight. With generally flawless direction from Malick, beautiful music by Hans Zimmer, gorgeous, lush photography by John Toll (even the gory battle scenes are beautifully done) and some performances that could be described as superb (a few gluttonous Hollywood mistakes are thrown in, but are forgettable, so the film doesn't suffer too badly), 'The Thin Red Line' is my pick for the best war' film ever (if ever pigeon holing a film into a genre was stupid, this would be it), and one of the most poignantly stunning films I've had the pleasure of seeing. Forget the comparisons with Spielberg's film.
10/10