Thin Red Line

This film reminded me a lot of a mural or montage with the many different characters. The story never focused really on one character which gave the film a continuous flow or stream of action from one event of character development to the next. The score brilliantly keeps the flow of the film during non-battle scenes where skipping around to different characters constantly could easily feel disjointed or sporadic. Not only that but the music also helps blend the beauty of nature into the quiet moments between chaos and war. This makes the caucophony of battle all the more unpleasant. And since we compared this to “Saving Private Ryan”… the first difference I noticed was how the battles were shot. “Saving Private Tyan” matches the mise-en-scene, which is dark and gritty, to the human drama of war. For instance, the opening amphibious landing in Saving Private Ryan shows dark skies shot with a shaky handheld camera. Thin Red Line does the opposite in its battle scenes. By showing clear blue skies rolling green hills, and lush jungle foliage from smooth crane shots, Malick points out the absurdity and irony of the situation (much like the surfing in Apocalypse Now). It’s a beautiful day in a tropical paradise and these soldiers are dying while natives are living in huts just as bystanders…

I started getting annoyed that almost every soldier sounded like they were from the south but I got over it. The voiceovers seemed a bit cheesy to me at times but I did like the Dear John scene. I couldn’t believe it. What a horrible heartbreak to stack on to all the crap this guy is already going through…