The Thin Red Line
USA 1998
Reviewed by Geoffrey Macnab
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
1942, Guadalcanal. US soldiers land on the island, hoping to take it back from the Japanese. At first, they encounter no resistance. C for Charlie company ventures into the jungle, discovering the corpses of some colleagues who've gone before them. Their progress is halted and they sustain many losses when they attempt to climb a hill heavily fortified by the Japanese. Lt Colonel Tall is adamant that they must take the hill, but Captain Staros is reluctant to commit his men on a mission he fears will kill many unnecessarily so he disobeys Tall's order.
Eventually, a small group of soldiers outflank the enemy and are able to destroy the Japanese machine-gun post. The company marches forward, coming face to face with the enemy, who are terrified and in disarray. Many Japanese are killed and captured. Tall, exultant about the success of the operation, announces the company is to have a week's leave away from the front. The men spend their time off by the sea. Private Bell learns his wife (of whom he is always thinking) is leaving him for another man. First Sergeant Welsh, a pragmatist who takes a very cynical view of the motives behind the war, argues with Private Witt, a young idealist who refuses to conform with army rules. Staros is relieved of his command by Tall. The soldiers return to the front. An operation in the jungle goes wrong. Witt's courage saves the company, but he is killed by the Japanese. Bloodied and dishevelled, the soldiers leave the island.
Review
In his first two films, Terrence Malick evoked rustic America with a detail and lyricism which belied the brutal stories he was telling. Badlands (1973) seemed as much a Depression-era travelogue as a film about two murderous delinquents. While seeing the locusts ravage the fields in Days of Heaven (1978), you were likely to be so enraptured by the imagery you might forget a farmer's livelihood was being destroyed by them. Malick's characters always seemed detached from the events they were witnessing. His use of voiceovers heightened the sense that they were outsiders looking in at a world to which they didn't really belong.
The Thin Red Line, Malick's first film in 20 years, shares a naive, dream-like quality with its two predecessors. The difference here is that the James Jones novel from which the director took his screenplay is not about a few estranged individuals. It is a sprawling, messy account of the experiences of dozens of soldiers in the face of war. The director is far more of a stylist than the novelist whose work he is (at least slightly) bowdlerising. Where Jones gives us long chunks of ungainly but compelling prose, Malick aims for poetic symbolism.
In the first half of the film, he fails to differentiate between individual characters. Before the fighting begins, we're shown Private Witt enjoying an idyllic interlude on an unspoiled island retreat. Witt, at least as conceived by Malick, has more in common with Montgomery Clift's martyr-like Prewitt in From Here to Eternity (1953) than with the opportunistic, slightly sleazy figure in Jones' book. Here, he's a visionary at odds with military discipline but always open to his surroundings. When, as constantly happens throughout the film, there are cutaways to insects, animals or birds, it is as if we are seeing them through his eyes.
Although Witt is depicted in detail, many of the other characters from the book are mere thumbnail sketches. Sgt Welsh's grumblings about how the war is being fought for capitalism are reduced to a few asides about "property, property". We don't see the gay affair between two of the soldiers nor does Malick show arguably the most poignant and grotesque scene in the book, in which one GI, while defecating, is surprised by a Japanese soldier. Whereas Jones was able to offer a multiplicity of perspectives and to suggest how each individual soldier was experiencing the same events in radically different ways, Malick can only hint obliquely at what his characters are feeling, however many voiceovers he uses. Surprisingly, Colonel Tall is made more prominent here, with Nick Nolte playing him much the same way as Sterling Hayden did the mad general in Dr. Strangelove (1963). It's an impressive portrayal of a career soldier so steeped in military arrogance he's lost his moral bearings. But by putting such emphasis on him, Malick moves the focus away from the pivotal figure of Captain Staros - named Stein in the book - so it's hard to understand why his soldiers are so dismayed when Tall relieves him of his command.
In one key sense, this adaptation is absolutely faithful. Like Jones, Malick shows war as something messy and inchoate. He's often accused of not knowing how to fashion a narrative, but that's to his advantage here. The film benefits from its random shifts in mood - the way it changes voices and lurches between moments of breathtaking beauty, stretches of relative tedium and sudden bloody battle scenes. Whatever its ideological bias or historical oversights, The Thin Red Line is hugely effective as a film about the absurdity of war. There is no respite. Apart from the scenes in which Bell remembers the wife he misses so much, we never escape the island. Under Witt's benevolent gaze, it may seem a paradise, but the further the soldiers delve into the jungle, the more hellish it becomes. The most frustrating sequence is the assault on the hill crowned by a Japanese machine-gun post. Each time the soldiers near the top they are sent, like Sisyphus, spiralling back by the gunners.
In many war movies, the battle scenes are an end in themselves. (No review of Saving Private Ryan neglected to mention how "realistic" the Omaha-beach landings were.) In The Thin Red Line the battle scenes merely provide the backdrop to Malick's rambling, quizzical inquiries into military behaviour and the nature of evil; he's more interested in metaphysics than machismo. It is an extraordinary achievement to have made a big-budget war film which seems so utterly personal. For all the dissonant voices, the star cameos, the awesome cinematography, this is Malick's vision alone. The island setting only reinforces the sense that he is a Prospero pulling all the strings.
Credits
- Producers
- Robert Michael Geisler
- John Roberdeau
- Grant Hill
- Screenplay
- Terrence Malick
- Based on the novel by
- James Jones
- Director of Photography
- John Toll
- Editors
- Billy Weber
- Leslie Jones
- Saar Klein
- Film:
- Clarinda Wong
- Production Designer
- Jack Fisk
- Music
- Hans Zimmer
- ©Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
- Production Companies
- A Fox 2000 Pictures presentation
- From Phoenix Pictures
- in association with George Stevens Jr
- A Geisler Roberdeau production
- Executive Producer
- George Stevens Jr
- Associate Producers
- Michael Stevens
- Sheila Davis Lawrence
- US Production Supervisor
- Rosanna Sun
- Production Co-ordinator
- Serena Gattuso
- 2nd Unit Co-ordinator
- Julie Sims
- Production Managers
- Vicki Popplewell
- Solomon Islands/ Guadalcanal Unit:
- Amanda Crittenden
- Unit Production Manager
- Grant Hill
- Unit Managers
- Dick Beckett
- 2nd Unit:
- Paul Messer
- Solomon Islands/ Guadalcanal Unit:
- Simon Lucas
- Location Managers
- Murray Boyd
- 2nd Unit:
- Todd Fellman
- Solomon Islands/ Guadalcanal Unit:
- Robin Clifton
- LA Post-production Units:
- Ken Haber
- Post-production Supervisor
- Jessica Alan
- 2nd Unit Director
- Gary Capo
- Assistant Directors
- Skip Cosper
- Karen Estelle Collins
- Simon Warnock
- Jennifer Leacey
- Andrew Power
- 2nd Unit:
- Toby Pease
- Keri Bruno
- Tom Read
- LA Post-production Units:
- L. Dean Jones
- Sean Hobin
- Lisa Brookes
- Script Supervisors
- Chrissy O'Connell
- 2nd Unit:
- Pam Willis
- Continuity
- Solomon Islands/ Guadalcanal Unit:
- Alexandra W.-B. Malick
- Script Co-ordinator
- Emily Saunders
- Casting
- Dianne Crittenden
- Associate:
- Barbara Collins
- ADR Voice:
- L.A. MadDogs
- Cameraman
- Solomon Islands 2nd Unit:
- Reuben Aaronson
- Camera Operators
- Brad Shield
- 2nd Unit:
- Leigh MacKenzie
- LA Post-production Units:
- Steve Campanelli
- Mike Thomas
- Steadicam Operator
- Brad Shield
- Visual Effects
- Animal Logic
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- Chris Godfrey
- Visual Effects Producer:
- Fiona Chilton
- Visual Effects Designer:
- Simon Whiteley
- Senior Digital Compositors:
- Kirsty Millar
- John Breslin
- Justin Bromley
- Digital Compositor:
- Robin Cave
- Pre-visualization Compositor:
- Grant Everett
- 3D Animator:
- Ian Brown
- System Administrator:
- Glen Sharah
- Digital Film Services
- Cinesite
- Special Effects
- Co-ordinator:
- Brian Cox
- Senior Technician:
- David Hardie
- Technicians:
- Patrick Carmiggelt
- Paul Gorrie
- Pauline Grebert
- John Neal
- Peter Parry
- Albert Payne
- Pieter Plooy
- Walter van Veenendaal
- Model Makers
- Mark Powell
- Gary Sherline
- Trevor Smith
- Dallas Wilson
- Graphic Artist
- Matthew Willaton
- Art Director
- Ian Gracie
- Set Decorators
- Richard Hobbs
- Suza Maybury
- LA Post-production Units:
- Rosemary Brandenburg
- Scenic Artist
- Peter Collias
- Storyboard Artists
- Mark Lambert Bristol
- David Russell
- LA Post-production Units:
- Jay Gibson
- Greg Pallini
- Sculptor
- Guideo Helmstetter
- Costume Designer
- Margot Wilson
- Costume Supervisor
- Kerry Thompson
- Military Webbing
- Supervisor:
- Phil Eagles
- Adviser:
- Jim Dedman
- Make-up/Hair Design
- Viv Mepham
- Make-up Artists/Hairdressers
- Angela Conte
- Toni French
- Joan Petch
- Chiara Tripodi
- Additional:
- Rebecca Smith
- Tracey Garner
- Sarah Urquhart
- LA Post-production Units, Additional:
- Michele Burke-Winter
- Sue Kalinowski
- Titles/Opticals Consultant
- Rob Yamamoto
- Titles
- Scarlet Letters
- End Credits
- Cinema Research Corporation
- Opticals
- Pat Doyle
- Pacific Title/Mirage
- Additional Music
- Francesco Lupica
- Cosmic Beam Experience
- John Powell
- Conductor
- Gavin Greenaway
- Orchestrations
- Bruce Fowler
- Yvonne S. Moriarty
- Additional Music Arrangements
- Klaus Badelt
- Music Supervisor
- Rosanna Sun
- Music Co-ordinator
- Maggie Rodford
- Air Edel Associates Ltd
- Composer Wrangler
- Moanike'Ala Nakamoto
- Music Editors
- Lee Scott
- Adam Smalley
- Music Scoring Mixer
- Alan Meyerson
- Scoring Recordist
- John Rodd
- Technical Score Adviser
- Marc Streitenfeld
- Soundtrack
- "Annum Per Annum" by Arvo Pärt, organ performed by Andrew Lucas; "Requiem - In Paradisum" by Gabriel Fauré, performed by Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Armin Jordan; "The Prophecy from the Village of Kremnus" by/performed by Arsenije Jovanovic; "Sit Back and Relax" by/performed by Francesco Lupica; "The Unanswered Question" by Charles Ives, performed by The Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by John Adams
- Sound Design
- John Fasal
- Claude Letessier
- Co-sound Supervisor
- Robb Wilson
- Sound Mixers
- Paul 'Salty' Brincat
- LA Post-production Units, Additional:
- Susan Moore-Chong
- 2nd Unit Sound Recordist
- Greg Burgmann
- Re-recording Mixers
- Andy Nelson
- Anna Behlmer
- Additional Mixer
- Jim Bolt
- Recordists
- Robert Renga
- Craig 'Pup' Heath
- Supervising Sound Editor
- J. Paul Huntsman
- Dialogue Editors
- Patrick J. Foley
- John F. Reynolds
- Virginia Cook McGowan
- Sound Effects Editors
- Christopher S. Aud
- John V. Bonds Jr
- Jayme S. Parker
- Andrew M. Sommers
- Mark Mangino
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Hugh Waddell
- Recordist:
- Rick Canelli
- Mixer:
- Thomas J. O'Connell
- Editors:
- Lee Lamont
- Karyn Foster
- Voice-over Supervisor
- James Simcik
- Foley
- Supervisor:
- Jeffrey Rosen
- Artists:
- John B. Roesch
- Hilda Hodges
- Recordist:
- Carolyn Tapp
- Mixer:
- Mary Jo Lang
- Editor:
- David Horton Jr
- Advisers
- Japanese:
- Shin Watarai
- Tomo Miyaguchi
- Key Military:
- Mike Stokey
- Aircraft Co-ordinator
- Bruce Simpson
- Marine Co-ordinator
- Lance Julian
- Action Vehicle Co-ordinator
- Tim Parry
- Stunt Co-ordinators
- Glenn Boswell
- LA Post-production Units:
- Raleigh Wilson
- Key Armourer
- John Bowring
- Armourers
- Peter Cogar
- Amanda Kirby
- Allen Mowbray
- Bob Parsons
- Scott Warwick
- Pilots
- Guy Bourke
- John Curtis
- Doug Haywood
- Owen O'Malley
- John Rayner
- Ray Seaver
- Ralph Simpson
- Cast
- Sean Penn
- First Sergeant Edward Welsh
- Adrien Brody
- Corporal Fife
- James Caviezel
- Private Witt
- Ben Chaplin
- Private Bell
- George Clooney
- Captain Charles Bosche
- John Cusack
- Captain John Gaff
- Woody Harrelson
- Sergeant Keck
- Elias Koteas
- Captain James 'Bugger' Staros
- Nick Nolte
- Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Tall
- John C. Reilly
- Sergeant Storm
- Arie Verveen
- Private First Class Dale
- Dash Mihok
- Private First Class Doll
- John Savage
- Sergeant McCron
- Kirk Acevedo
- Private Tella
- Penny Allen
- Witt's mother
- Benjamin
- Melanesian villager
- Simon Billig
- Lieutenant Colonel Billig
- Mark Boone Junior
- Private Peale
- Norman Patrick Brown
- Private Henry
- Jarrod Dean
- Corporal Thorne
- Matt Doran
- Private Coombs
- Travis Fine
- Private Weld
- Paul Gleeson
- First Lieutenant Band
- David Harrod
- Corporal Queen
- Don Harvey
- Sergeant Becker
- Kengo Hasuo
- Japanese prisoner
- Ben Hines
- assistant pilot
- Danny Hoch
- Private Carni
- Robert Roy Hofmo
- Private Sico
- Jack
- Melanesian man walking
- Tom Jane
- Private Ash
- Jimmy
- Melanesian villager
- Polyn Leona
- Melanesian woman with child
- Jared Leto
- 2nd Lieutenant Whyte
- Simon Lyndon
- medic 2
- Gordon MacDonald
- Private First Class Earl
- Kazuki Maehara
- Japanese private 1
- Marina Malota
- Marina
- Michael McGrady
- Private Floyd
- Ken Mitsuishi
- Japanese officer 1
- Ryushi Mizukami
- Japanese private 4
- Tim Blake Nelson
- Private Tills
- Larry Neuhaus
- crewman
- Taiju Okayasu
- Japanese private 6
- Takamitsu Okubo
- Japanese soldier
- Miranda Otto
- Marty Bell
- Larry Romano
- Private Mazzi
- Kazuyoshi Sakai
- Japanese prisoner 2
- Masayuki Shida
- Japanese officer 2
- John Dee Smith
- Private Train
- Stephen Spacek
- Corporal Jenks
- Nick Stahl
- Private First Class Bead
- Hiroya Sugisaki
- Japanese private 7
- Kouji Suzuki
- Japanese private 3
- Tomohiro Tanji
- Japanese private 2
- Minoru Toyoshima
- Japanese sergeant
- John Travolta
- Brigadier General Quintard
- Terutake Tsuji
- Japanese private 5
- Steven Vidler
- 2nd Lieutenant Gore
- Vincent
- Melanesian guide
- Todd Wallace
- pilot
- Will Wallace
- Private Hoke
- Joe Watanabe
- Japanese officer 3
- Simon Westaway
- first scout
- Dan Wyllie
- medic 1
- Yasuomi Yoshino
- young Japanese
- John Augwata
- Joshua Augwata
- John Bakotee
- Immanuel Dato
- Michael Iha
- Emmunual Konai
- Stephen Konai
- Peter Morosiro
- Amos Niuga
- Jennifer Siugali
- Carlos Tome
- Selina Tome
- Melanesian extras
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- 20th Century Fox (UK)
- 15,253 feet
- 170 minutes 36 seconds
- Dolby digital
- Colour by
- Atlab
- Prints by
- Technicolor
- Anamorphic [Panavision]