The Thin Red Line

Starring: Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, Nick Nolte, Sean Penn
Director: Terrence Malick
Genre: Drama
Year: 1998
Rating: 5 / 5

There is no greater disappointment one can feel at a movie theatre than the painful realization that a particular film did not live up to its hype. The same impressive reviews that compel the viewing create the outlandish expectations that can not possibly be attained. Every once in a while, though, a movie comes along that is universally praised, slated for ample Oscar consideration, and actually is as good as advertised. The Thin Red Line is such a movie, one that I feel should go down in history as the best movie of 1998.

I consider myself to be a fan of action movies, be they of this earth or in outer space, so I felt certain that I would count myself among the Saving Private Ryan supporters at the end of the year. Considered the more exciting, gritty adaptation, Ryan is said to appeal more to the mainstream viewer than Terrence Malick's refreshingly unique Thin Red Line. Yet it is Malick's film, his first in twenty years, which illustrates for us how accustomed we have grown to traditional Hollywood conventions. His narrative, locked onto a theme rather than a particular group of characters, has a flow to it that defies its structure. As the movie flashes from one leading man to another, we follow a seamless transition that encompasses all that Malick is trying to express to us about war.

Saving Private Ryan has rightly been hailed as one of the best war movies of all-time, and in most other years, would be worthy of an Academy Award. In this year, however, The Thin Red Line takes the viewer not only away from his own world, but away from Hollywood as a whole. The film introduces us to one of the film's many protagonists, Private Witt (Jim Caviezel), on a reclusive island where he has gone AWOL. Through his narrations and wandering, not to mention the most powerful segment of the film's impressive soundtrack, we see what life means to Private Witt. He has not chosen to accept the lone view of life that he has been afforded, but has chosen to find his own meaning, even in the midst of a world war.

Private Witt is eventually reacquired by Charlie Company and First Sgt. Edward Welsh (Sean Penn). Their mission is to storm Guadancanal, a potentially instrumental foothold for the Allies in the Pacific Ocean. The landing forces, led by Lt. Col. Gordon Tall (Nick Nolte), surge through the brush, failing to encounter any resistance until they reach a heavily defended ridge. As the troops attempt to mount this hilltop, we are shown not the carnage of war, but the effect it has on each man. Malick shows this battle as a sequence of individual battles, as each man must affirm for himself what the war means to him and what he is willing to do. The scenes, powerful across the board, depict the human effects such a battle can have, with death all around, facing an unseen enemy.

The greatest tribute to The Thin Red Line, however, comes in Malick's ability to allow his vision to shine over all else. Even with a star-studded cast and the destruction of war, Malick's story swallows everything else. Actors like Nolte, Penn, John Cusack, and John Travolta are simply part of the scenery that is Malick's vision. That being said, the acting is first-rate all around. Jim Caviezel is incredible as the "conscience" of the film, Private Witt, wrestling with personal aspirations and war's reality. Ben Chaplin gives an equally remarkable performance as Private Bell, the leader of a small scout unit, whose love for his wife drives him through the otherwise hellish landscape. Woody Harrelson surprises as well, in a short, powerful sequence as Sgt. Keck, a man determined to make soldiers out of his men.

The Thin Red Line, adapted from a 1962 James Jones novel, is above all else the culmination of one man's vision to represent war on film. I have not had the pleasure of seeing Malick's two prior works, but this movie shows me why every actor in Hollywood was willing to sacrifice so much for the chance to work with him. He offers us a novel perspective, one which we may not have ever been aware of before. He allows us the opportunity to question what drives a man, and how we each find a purpose in life. Most of all, he offers a renewed faith in a film's ability to break down walls and once more give us a reason to believe in the magic of the movies.

Cast:

Jim Caviezel..........	Private Witt
Ben Chaplin..........	Private Bell
John Cusack..........	Captain John Gaff
Woody Harrelson..........	Sgt. Keck
Elias Koteas..........	Captain James Staros
Nick Nolte..........	Lt. Colonel Tall
Sean Penn..........	Sgt. Edward Welsh

Certification: Rated R for violence.
Running Time: 170 minutes.

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