Some films are made too early. Some films are made too late. It rarely happens that the same film is made too early and too soon. This could be said about The Thin Red Line, 1998 war film directed by Terence Malick.
The Thin Red Line was one of the most talked about and most eagerly awaited films of 1990s. Its director Terence Malick has made only two films in 1970s; in next two decades his absence from film business, together with cult status of his Badlands, created almost mythical reputation. Many critics and serious film connoisseurs were ecstatic after the announcement of his next movie project. The films's subject matter, similar to Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, promised an interesting contest during 1999 "Oscar" race.
The plot of the film is based on the semi-autobiographic novel by James Jones. In the novel author described his experiences during one of the most important WW2 campaigns. In August 1942 US Marines landed on Guadalcanal, strategically important island in Solomons Archipelago; Japanese reacted by reinforcing their garrison leading to the months of land, sea and air battles. One of the American reinforcements is US Army infantry unit commanded by Lt. Col. Tall (played by Nick Nolte). Private Witt (played by James Caviezel), one of his soldiers, has went AWOL and spends most of his time enjoying idyllic life with the natives of neighbouring Melanesian islands. The idyll is interrupted by the arrival of patrol boat and Witt is returned to Walsh (played by Sean Penn), cynical sergeant who shows great understanding for Witt's actions, because the unit is going to land on Guadalcanal and take part in combat. There the soldiers meet their first serious challenge when confronted by Japanese bunker. Tall, career soldier lusting for glory and promotion, wants the bunker taken by all cost but the attempt turns into bloody failure. When ordered to repeat the assault, Captain Staros (played by Elias Koteas) refuses to send his men to certain death. Tall takes different approach and sends small unit commanded by Captain Gaff (played by John Cusack) to locate and destroy the bunkers. The attempt succeeds and victorious soldiers are given one week of rest before they experience new battles, new suffering and new tragedies.
Since both films dealt with WW2, comparisons between The Tin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan were inevitable. Two films are very different in their approach to war as well as their authors' approach to film making. Spielberg's film displays more conventional storytelling and adopts the old-fashioned values of patriotism and sacrifice. Malick, on the other hand, takes explicitly anti-war view; his protagonists aren't heroes trying to do the right thing. Instead, soldiers in The Thin Red Line are often confused men who fight people that they don't see and for reason they scarcely comprehend; it all happens in idyllic, beautiful natural surrounding where civilisation brought nothing but misery, death and destruction. To underline his view, Malick adopted unconventional storytelling technique - the film doesn't have a strong plot and it is more the series of brief vignettes revolving around few characters. Their thoughts are presented through voice-overs in which they muse about war, nature, life, death and other important questions. Malick's great love for nature is reflected in extensive shots of beautiful Australian rain forest locations, captured by John Toll's cinematography.
The basic idea between this approach was right, but its execution left much to be desired. Voice-overs, which are supposed to give inner thoughts of the characters, are far from effective. Most of the time they sound boring, pretentious and the characters are often unrecognisable under the helmets. Another film's problem is the pacing - The Thin Red Line is simply overlong. Malick preferred to film what he liked rather than to film what should serve the story. The film is full of long, beautiful shots of nature and natives, while the characters and plot are completely ignored. Because of this The Tin Red Line often looks like the random series of war film clips being accidentally edited into nature documentary. The only time when The Thin Red Line has some sort of coherence is in the middle, when the film covers the scenes of the assault and its aftermath. In this section Malick is even superior to Spielberg's treatment of similar scene in his Saving Private Ryan. The scene when American soldiers capture Japanese camp and have their way with wounded and shell-shocked prisoners is one of the most powerful in recent films.
Many prominent Hollywood actors, obviously impressed by director's reputation, tried very hard to appear in this film. Their talents, however, were mostly underused due to Malick's poor editing and fact that most of the characters appear too briefly to leave any impression on viewers. There are some exceptions - Nick Nolte is wonderful as militaristic officer while Elias Koteas provides very realistic portrait of his pacifist subordinate. Sean Penn and Ben Chaplin are also very good in their roles, while James Caviezel's role is served very poorly by Malick's script.
Main problem for The Thin Red Line, however, is in the unfortunate timing of its production. It should have been made in 1970s, when Malick's anti-war stance better corresponded with post-Vietnam sentiments of the American audience. If made now, its anti-war stance could correspond with the way many Americans and most of the world see current events in Iraq. Unfortunately, The Tin Red Line appeared on the eve of NATO's bombing of Serbia – armed conflict that convinced many that the military victories could be achieved without paying the butcher's bill.
Perhaps this also helped to put The Thin Red Line in its proper context - without events to give it contemporary political agenda, this film is to be viewed as well-intentioned, ambitious, occasionally impressive but failed film.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on May 25th 2004)
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