Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The Thin Red Line- by Carol Ostling




Title/Year : The Thin Red Line, 1998
Director/Birth Country/Year Born:
 Terrence Malick, USA,1943
Budget: $52,000,000(estimated)
 
Gross:
 $81,600,000(worldwide) or $98.1 million
Synopsis:
 During WWII the soldiers of C- company struggle with the horrors of war as they take Guadalcanal.
Characterization/Dialogue:  The men of C- Company struggle with the horrific nature of War.
Camera/Lighting/Editing: Lots of CU and MS and tracking shots to make you feel like you are trapped with them in this war.There were a lot of symbolic cuts of nature and it relating to the moment or the feeling of the character.  
Narrative and Visual Keywords: Japanese, US Soldiers, family, brotherhood, unit, nature, Guadalcanal, Voice over, War, Death, WWII, Harsh Reality, Paradise Lost
Political/Social Commentary: The thin red line depicts how war is a wild thing and a wild thing destroys nature as well as people.
 Notable Collaboration: HOLY CRAP! What actor didn’t get a foot in this movie?  Here is a list some of the actors you SAW in the movie; Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, John Travolta. There were many actors that were cut in post production, here is some of there names; Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Viggo Mortensen, Mickey Rourke. Sean Penn helped edit the movie.
Historical relevance/recognition: The movie initially was seen as that other WWII two movie because Saving Private Ryan had been released earlier that year. However, this movie made a mark of its own, with reviews saying things like “the finest contemporary war film I’ve ever seen supplanting Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan….” The Thin Red line was adapted from a book of the same name and was adapted another time in 1964. The book portrays the horrific and realistic depictions of War. The 1998 Version won several international awards, one of them being Best Cinematography but the National Society of Film Critics. The movie was nominated for 8 different Academy Awards but did not win any of them.  The backdrop of this movie is the Guadalcanal Campaign, the first strategic offensive by the allies. Obtaining and keeping Guadalcanal helped end WWII.
Etc. Leslie Jones assembly edit was 5 hours long. After editing for seven months  Billy Weber  join in post production and they spent another 13 months editing. It took 4 months to mix the film. They used 4 Avid Machines and at one point added a fifth.

 
1)      On the Ship going to Guadalcanal we are introduced to the members of Charlie Company and what their fears are. It is not until they are in the battle and the trenches before we start seeing their bond. When waiting they tell their stories and fears to each other. We see an example that these men are a group is when Captain Staros refuses to send more men to get slaughtered on the hill. It becomes them against the Colonel who is ordering them to keep pushing.
2)      Toward the end when Witt and a couple of the other men are on a scouting mission upriver from the rest of the company they spot some Japanese.  Witt Sends Private fife back to the company and in order to give them time to retreat Witt draws away the Japanese. He becomes encircled by the enemy and ends up dying and the rest of the company is saved.
* Pick out bits of dialogue, visual images, or scenes which you consider especially effective in revealing character and tell why they are effective.*
                There is a scene when captain Straos is starting to stand up to the Colonel and they cut to an image of a bird that was just hatched in the mud but has a broken wing. I found this an effective symbolize of the Captain finding his voice in the trenches but the voice is not necessarily as strong as it needs to be. I believe that it also references the fact that it was a lot of young men that were in the trenches of this war. They were born men in the trenches but they were equally broken by the experiences.  The shot is also a harsh reality shot about how the wild can be unforgiving, just like war.   
*Which minor characters function to bring out the personality traits of the major characters? What do they help reveal?*
There is a scene when a man is feeling sick to his stomach. Sgt. Keck tells the man to get up or else. Welsh over hears what’s going on and comes over.  Welsh orders the man to the medics he looks to Keck and says “don’t argue with me”. The minor character revealed that Welsh does still have a soft side, while Keck is a hard man. It also establishes the respect that Welsh holds in the company.  

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