THE THIN RED LINE
(based on the novel by James Jones)
I get a call from 20th Century Fox to see "The Thin Red Line." I’m told it’s incomplete. The end titles are missing. The sound mix needs fine tuning. I see it, ironically, on the anniversary of the Day that will live in Infamy, December 7th. The stunning visuals knock me out. The editing is flawless. Rivers of thought and action of a company of soldiers on Guadalcanal in WWII seamlessly flow from a confluence of bloody combat and mental anguish. Exhilaration, depression, fatigue, reflection, spirituality, and numbness co-exist from one moment to the next. A few officers see war as a career opportunity. Some men live. Others die. There are heroes and cowards. Most just want to get through it - in one piece. A few go home - armless - without legs - home. The rest move on to the next ridge, the next machine gun nest, the next enemy outpost - onward to the end of the movie. "The Thin Red Line" effortlessly whisks me through its almost two and a half hours. I can’t say I loved it. I can’t say I hated it. Except for a few moments spent with Top Sergeants, Welsh and Keck(Sean Penn & Woody Harrelson), I feel like an angel from "Wings of Desire" unable to make an emotional connection to the men of Company C. Maybe because, like the lady said, it’s incomplete. It lacks the visceral immediacy that made "Saving Private Ryan" such a thrilling experience. What "The Thin Red Line" does have is a haunting quality that creeps up on you days later and commands your attention. I can’t stop thinking about it.
I promised myself I wouldn’t mention "Saving Private Ryan" in the same breath as "The Thin Red Line" but comparisons are inevitable if only because they are both war movies released the same year. Too bad. I fear that "The Thin Red Line" is a movie that will need a chance to ‘catch on.’ The emotional hue of each film is as different as the men who made them - Steven Spielberg, the showman, and Terence Malick, the philosopher. While "Saving Private Ryan" is a gut wrenching populist entertainment, "The Thin Red Line" is a meditation on the effects of war on men’s souls. It’s success or failure will depend on the acceptance of Malick’s narrative style which relies heavily on fragmented soliloquies that come with the frequency of sniper fire. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Terence Malick imagines uneducated men of innate intelligence expressing their inner thoughts awkwardly. I believe that simple men express themselves simply - not awkwardly. What does work is the view of man as a part of nature with all its beauty, wonder, and harshness. Good. Evil. Life. Death. Compassion. Cruelty. Awe. Horror. Faith. Godlessness. These elements are as much a part of Terence Malick’s cinematic palette as the crimson blood of dismembered bodies and the calm blue of the Pacific Ocean that insulates the island of death. My first reaction to "The Thin Red Line" was to dismiss it, but I can’t. So, like the movie, my feeling for it is a work in progress.
It seems senseless to discuss the individual performances in "The Thin Red Line." Except for the scene-chewing Nick Nolte as a die-hard Battalion Commander, every word and gesture appear to be no more than a brushstroke in the canvas of Terence Malick’s imagination. For the most part, each actor is cast in rank according to the pecking order of his celebrity from John Travolta down to the lowliest private. Malick uses this idea creatively. He often gives the biggest stars the least amount of screen time. This should make sense to anyone who has ever been in the military. The officers in the chain of command, who are seen the least by the grunts who do all the dirty work, are usually the most recognizable. "The Thin Red Line" levels the playing field by giving each man, friend or foe, regardless of rank, in life and death, a chance to fathom his place in the cosmos of war.
Some classic films from The War in the Pacific with one from post-war Japan.
"The Thin Red Line" - 1964 - Yes! They tried to capture the flavor of James Jones once before. With Keir Dullea who battled HAL in "2001 - A Space Odyssey."
"Guadalcanal Diary" - 1943 - One of the Great Hollywood War films of the 40’s.
Richard Jaeckel’s film debut. Does anybody remember him? - an unheralded talent whose career spanned half a century. Check him out in "The Dirty Dozen" from 1967.
"Wake Island" - 1942 - Another one of the Greats. Directed by John Farrow, Mia’s
father.
"Fires on the Plain" - 1959 - Dir. Kon Ichakawa - The war in the Philippines told from
the enemies point of view. Two soldiers on the run are more likely to die from
starvation and disease than an American bullet. Close in feel and temperament to a key scene in Terence Malick’s "The Thin Red Line."
"Hell in the Pacific" - 1968 - Dir. John Boorman - Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune face
off as two enemies who have bond together in their humanity to combat the elements of nature for their mutual survival on a desolate island in the Pacific. Not as hokey as it sounds.