The Thin Red Line

Director: Terrence Malick
Cast:
Sean Penn
Adrien Brody
Jim Caviezel
Ben Chaplin
George Clooney
Genre: Action

After going AWOL for about 20 years, director Terrence Malick is back with the kind of movie Hollywood only allows every decade or so: a sprawling, sweeping epic of a film that has no other point than to imbue the public with the subconscious longings of its lauded director. Which makes this an almost impossible beast to review, because recommending it depends upon what you ask of your art; if you want a tightly-dramatized war film, there are other places you should go. However, if you want to see something beautiful for its own sake, you had best find your way to the big screen and strap yourself in.

The movie follows several storylines, told in quilted voiceovers: a private who finds strength in the love of his wife back home; a sargeant who has spent his entire military career being passed over; a soldier who had abandoned his unit, only to come back as a bigger hero. Nick Nolte, as the irrational leader hellbent on taking a hill that has decimated his troops, is screaming brilliance, but the real actor here is Ben Chaplin (who will most likely be forgotten come Oscar time) who manages to be an eye magnet in a movie that has almost too many beautiful things to look at. And that's why you should go to this thing: it is, without doubt, the most gorgeously-shot movie of the last five years. John Toll, who made "Legends of the Fall" and "Braveheart" into masterpieces of light, films "The Thin Red Line" with genius. It will surely be the benchmark by which all films will be visually judged, and that includes you and you, Speilberg and Lucas. The first images of a crocodile sliding into the green algae, to the vast landscapes of the bombing, to the final shot of a lone palm growing on a barren beach: enjoy it now before it becomes standard viewing for all sophomore film classes.

But like all personal journeys, this is one you will have to take with a large dose of patience and faith. It will be WAY too long for some of you, without purpose to others. Some of the scenes may seem like cliches, and the dramatic thrust of the film will be undermined by plot shifts that go nowhere, and seem to go there forever. It is with that warning that I recommend "The Thin Red Line" as a trip rather than a drama, a journey rather than a destination, and a poem rather than a play. With Adrien Brody, Sean Penn, Elias Koteas.

—Ian Williams

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