Is Terrance Malik In Greenpeace ? ....

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2003)

.... Is what I asked as THE THIN RED LINE started . I mean who but a die hard greenie would have the sheer audacity to open a war movie with a crocodile walking into a swamp and spend the next hour showing us what beautiful things nature and communal pre-industrial life is ?

Actually this is the problem with THE THIN RED LINE , it`s profound , pretentious and a bit of an overlong mess . Hate , love , war and peace are covered as is the double edged sword of nature . Young men take the dying breath from another in breath taking landscapes but no matter what cruelty mankind inflicts upon itself the undisturbed life of mother nature will continue . Imagine the disappointment of a macho audience turning up to see this war film only to find a holistic polemical with a few ( Well staged ) battle scenes ?
This film split critics between SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and THE THIN RED LINE . I must admit I did prefer Malik`s movie since SPR is just another " America saves civilisation from Nazism single handed " war movie , but I do recognise this is a movie that`s too deep for its own good