The Thin Red Line (1998)

Director: Terrence Malick

Cast: Kirk Acevedo as Pvt. Tella, Sean Penn as 1st Sgt. Edward Welsh, Penelope Allen as Witt's Mother (as Penny Allen), Adrien Brody as Cpl. Fife, James Caviezel as Pvt. Witt (as Jim Caviezel), Benjamin Green as Melanesian Villager (as Benjamin), Simon Billig as Lt. Col. Billig, Ben Chaplin as Pvt. Bell, Mark Boone Junior as Pvt. Peale, George Clooney as Capt. Charles Bosche, John Cusack as Capt. John Gaff, Norman Patrick Brown as Pvt. Henry, Woody Harrelson as Sgt. Keck, Elias Koteas as Capt. James 'Bugger' Staros, Nick Nolte as Lt. Col. Gordon Tall

The Thin Red Line has no real hero and no real plot to speak of. Due to its
release the same year as Saving Private Ryan it will forever be linked to
Spielberg's anti-war opus. Yet, "TRL" deserves to be compared to Stanley
Kubrick's 2001 due to it's style and distance from the audience. The film's
only character is the Charlie Company and the conflict is between humankind
itself. Director Terrance Malik asks profound questions and unlike "Ryan,"
doesn't expect them to be answered because they simply can't be answered.
Like 2001, the viewer is left with more questions than answers at the end of
the film and is told in stunning visual fashion. Some critics have pointed
out various flaws in the film; however, these traits are what sets TRL apart
form it's peers. The stars like John Travolta and George Clooney have little
screen time. They are the officers who command attention and are larger than
life to the simple GI's who do the real work (and most of the acting in the
film.) The characters are mostly unrecognizable and you know little about
them save the main characters like Pvt. Bell. But, the faces are meant to be
unrecognizable; to paraphrase the film they are simply flesh and meat made
from the earth simply to return back to it. Those who criticise the lack of
violence in some scenes while labeling the other scenes intense don't
realize the intensity the fight scenes generalize are due to the fact that
the soldiers don't know when their next battle will be and when their last
breath will take place. The main character, Charlie Company, is fighting to
stay alive, the only real driving force of the plot. All of the characters
have different views of the war, shown through the use of random spoken
narrative. There is no easy conclusion to the war and the film starts off
where it began, among the animals of the pacific. Life is one huge circle
and one could guess the battle for the bunker on top of the hill could be
fought again and there is no possible way to stop it, (At least that is what
I was able to muster of the film itself.) For myself the most haunting image
was the scene when the Americans stare at their Japanese enemy after
capturing the hill. Both sides seem to realize that they could be on the
other side of the battle and that in war there really is no good vs. bad
scenario, just what nation you're from and who you are trying to kill. Yet
the question asked is why war occurs and why we must fight each other. On
that note, we still have no answers. The acting and sound are superb. The
direction, editing, and score are all Oscar caliber. I don't shrink from
saying that TRL is the best film of 1998 and one of the greatest war films
of all time; (and contrary to what some are trying to say it is a war film,
that is at its core.) TRL is the only film to ever make my knees tremble and
haunt me days after I saw it. If you see it, I'm sure your opinions will be
just as strong as mine.