Best War Movies: 3. The Thin Red Line

08 October 2008

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The Thin Red Line was director Terrence Malick's return to filmmaking after a twenty year absence which told a fictional story during the Second World War.

The film, which has made it to number three on our countdown, brought together an impressive ensemble cast including Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Elias Koteas and Nick Nolte as well as interesting cameos from George Clooney and John Travolta.

A World War II tale which focuses on a squad of American troops battling against the Japanese during the hellish battle of Guadalcanal Island.

Witt has gone AWOL and considers the contrast between the peace of the islanders and the chaos brought by war. Meanwhile, the troops are led by two men: Tall, who is eager for the danger of battle, and Staros, who is more concerned with protecting his men.

As they fight over strategy, the men have different reactions to the war: Bell thinks only of his wife, Gaff is intelligent but no more able to deal with war than the bullish Doll.

As they attack a Japanese stronghold, the randomness of life and death in wartime is made clear.

While the film does feature many battle scenes that you would expect to find in any war movie there is something profoundly different about The Thin Red Line that does set it apart from other movies in the genre.

There is a great philosophical aspect that hangs over the whole film as the characters question reasons behind the war and in particular life, as they potentially walk so close to death, leaving many issues unresolved when the credits role, much like life itself.

Malick's main theme behind the movie was to delve into the experience and psyche of soldiers at war looking at how they cope, or not, with what they see and how they band together under the most testing circumstances.

It is a very impressionistic view of war, that may not be the taste of many, as Malick delivers a truly beautiful movie that likens war to the harshness of nature using his beautiful surroundings to bring home his point, and only maverick director Malick could have shot a war movie in this way and got away with it.

The cast is also impressive bringing together well established actors such as Nick Nolte and Sean Penn with the newer talent of Jim Caviezel and Adrien Brody.

Malick beautifully compares how the characters see and experience war as Lieutenant Colonel Tall (Nolte) is forced by powers from above to drive the war effort forward no matter what the cost and he locks horns with Captain Staros (Koteas) who wants to protect his men from the horrors of war.

There's also an interesting relationship between Witt (Caveizel), who sees beauty and hope in life but doesn't want to serve in the army compared to First Sergeant Welsh (Penn) who has lost hope in everything and now just follows orders as a way to survive.

Despite all this The Thin Red Line was not a commercial success but went on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Malick's image of World War II is definitely unique that has never been repeated and while it may not be what you expect from a war movie The Thin Red Line is amongst the best you will see and is well worth a watch.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw