Look at the Frames

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2002)

This is, in fact, a very beautiful movie with flaws. The multiple narrators work to give you a sense of the great multitudes of men who engaged in the war, but they're confusing and tend to diffuse the narrative speed. On the other hand, Malick is not concerned about narrative, and certainly not about speed. He is a lyric poet, and what he wants the audience to think about is the meaning of war.
The story begins in nature. The first image is of a crocodile slipping silently into a swamp. This is the theme, the duality of nature. It is so beautiful -- even this old croc -- but it is also deadly. Men and women are beautiful, in the idyllic world of the opening scenes -- but the soldier is AWOL, and they come find him to put him in battle.
From that point on, the story is a series of meditations on man, war and fate. The images are gorgeous. The words, and the characterizations, are profoundly involving. The narration often suffers. Who's talking here? What exactly is he talking about? Who's that dying? Is he the same guy we saw on the boat? And so on. There are times when you think that the narrative is being deliberately left in the background, because the audience is another victim of "the fog of war."
I just watched the DVD this weekend, after seeing the movie in the theaters. On second viewing, I gathered a horde of new meanings from this beautiful movie. I think it would also surrender new layers of meaning every time you watched it. Perhaps that's why I think it's a better DVD movie than it was in theaters.