______________________________________________________
Thin
Red Line
(By Gerry Wang)
THE THIN RED LINE
(Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, John Cusack;
directed by Terrence Malick)
by Gerry Wang
_____We young-folk in
the late 20th Century often take the sacrifice of our
veterans for granted. We have no idea how it is to enlist
in the army, go through boot camp, and leave home to go
fight a war. All the while knowing that you might die and
the only way you're coming back home might be in a
coffin, if you're lucky enough to have your body
salvaged.
_____In A THIN RED
LINE, director Terrence Malick makes a anti-war statement
in the form of an artistic, opaque, and ambiguous
artistic film. I can't call this a movie. Nor can I call
it a documentary. It doesn't really have a beginning. It
doesn't really have an end. There aren't any main
characters. There's not really a plot. The film is a
compilation of poetry, philosophy, and soliloquies, all
centered about what exactly is human Being.
_____What is our
existence? What is war? Why do we fight wars? You can't
answer these questions. And A THIN RED LINE doesn't even
attempt to answer questions. But this is what we find
ourselves thinking about as we watch it.
_____We think about
what it's like to be fighting on Guadalcanal. What's it's
like to have to charge up a hill of tall grass while your
enemy machineguns your comrades down. You can't see the
the enemy. You just see brief flashes of fire from the
distance, and your buddy falls down dead. You hear your
Commanding Officer barking at you to charge, knowing that
it's suicide, yet you go because you must obey. War is
hell. As you crawl through the brush, bullets whizzing
past you, your mind wanders. You think about your
girlfriend/wife at home. You think about your mother.
Boom you're hit by a bullet and you're dead.
_____What captured me
most about A THIN RED LINE was its beautiful
cinematography. The jungle on the island literally comes
alive. It teems w/ wildlife, the canopy of leaves focuses
the sunlight into beautiful rays, the babbling brook
flows crystal clear over rocks while the native children
play. Malick focuses on the nature and scenery, to remind
us that we are all part of Mother Earth. We are all part
of nature. Why do we kill ourselves? The artistry of A
THIN RED LINE was absolutely stunning. I felt I was on
the damn island, I felt the dirt on my skin. I saw the
crocodiles and toucans around me. I saw the wild dogs
eating the dead corpses. I was there. And it was all
thanks to Terrence Malick.
_____One flaw in this
otherwise excellent thinking man's movie is the enormous
number of celebrity cameos. The movie stops dead cold
when John Travolta and George Clooney come on. They just
don't bring the same authenticity of being real soldiers
as the rest of the cast do. Adrien Brody, who plays the
humanitarian Witt perfectly portrays a soldier who hates
war but still risks his ass to protect his friends. Elias
Koteas also has an excellent performance as the Captain
of the Charlie Company who is unwilling to let his men
die, risking the wrath of Colonel Tall, played cruelly
menacing by Nick Nolte.
_____Koteas, Brody, and
Nolte give brilliant performances, but one standout is
Sean Penn. He plays a Sergeant who is trying not to care
about the loss of life, who is trying to numb himself,
but simply cannot abandon the human side of his soul.
_____Some people will
hate A THIN RED LINE with every fiber of their being.
Some people will love it. For me, I'm closer to the
middle. While I found some parts of A THIN RED LINE very
entertaining, such as the battle scene and art direction,
it also dragged a little too long. It was close to 3
hours, and all the voice over narratives about life
philosophy was a tad exhausting.
_____But to tolerate
and withstand war is to remain aloof and distant, in
order to not get caught in all its madness. Remember this
when you watch A THIN RED LINE, or you will find yourself
fatigued from its slow pace.
***1/2
Babe-o-meter: 1- I am limp (Virtually no women in this
movie, except for naked aborigine women, which was
disgusting)
NOTE: This is the brand new institution of the
Babe-o-meter, which replaces the old Chick-o-meter. The
latter rated the movie on its accessibility to the female
gender. We all know it is freakin impossible to
understand girls these days, so now we have the
Babe-o-meter, which measures the girls actually in the
movie. Keep in mind this is a brain-child of Rice, so
credit must go to him. =) The scale is as follows:
* 4-- Greek Goddesses (Highest)- Some nice, delicious
honeys, changed from "Wet Dream Time" at Rice's
request; i.e. Jenny McCarthy
* 3-- Lovely- Pretty girls, but not knockouts; i.e.
Jennifer Lopez
* 2-- Semi Do-able- Middle of the road type of girls;
i.e. Jennie Garth
* 1-- I am limp (Lowest)- Butt ugly banshees; i.e. my sis
Jennifer Wang =)
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