Thin Red Line by Zachary vanBuuren

Title/Year; The Thin Red Line /1998

Director/Birth Country/Year Born; Terrence Malick/U.S./1943

Budget; 52 million

Gross; 98.12 million

Synopsis; The Thin Red Line follows the battle of the infantry line during the WWII battle of Mount Austen. The film follows the soldiers through personal flashback stories giving the characters a greater amount of depth and allowing great perspective into the psyche of the individuals. Many of the characters back stories are given with good detail, giving reason to their reaction in battle. The story is driven in battle by the demanding push of Nick Nolte playing LT. Colonel Tall demanding the squadron to advance on a heavily fortified Japanese bunker. Elias Koteas playing Captain Staros defies his commanding officers orders, not wanting to lose any lives of his men. To show a very human side of the story, Jim Caviezel as Private Witt plays a soldier who is retrieved from a tropical island after going a.w.o.l. who has found an inner peace. The film has many scenes dictated with Witt's internal dialogue as a mental response to what is happening in the battles around him. Wit begrudgingly re-enters the military and becomes the lens through which we spectate the insanity of war and the effects that it has on soldiers.

Keywords; Poetic. Moving. Insightful. Philosophical. 

Characterization/ Dialogue; The characters are portrayed with rather
realistic dialogue. The script is very digestible and the performance  is easy to believe.

Camera/lighting/editing technique; The Thin Red Line is shot in such a way that it coveys a gritty realism of the characters.  Long shots holding on the expressions, actions and reactions of the soldiers are meant to allow the viewer to ponder the weight of the situations presented.

Political/ Social Commentary; The film is quite clear about the message of the absurdity and insanity of war. The focus on the a LT. Colonel Tall grasping for power in a last chance for fame is displayed in a rather feasible manner.

Historical Relevance/ Recognition; The Thin Red Line was director Terrence Malick's return to directing after a twenty year hiatus.

Notable Collaboration; Mickey Rourke, Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, Gary Oldman, Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Jason Patric and Viggo Mortenson all were in the original cast. When it came to the final edit of almost 3 hours, all of their parts had been removed. 

Random fact; There is a continuing rumor of a 'legendary' 5 hour cut of the film. Malick has claimed that it is simply the assembly edit and he has only ever had the patience to sit through it once. 

*Pick out bits of dialogue, visual images, or scenes which you consider especially effective in revealing character and tell why they are effective.

 ~There are many striking shots peppered throughout the film. They are present to show moments of internal peace and contemplation for Private Witt. These shots are well composed, well paced and exude a sense of calmness and momentary removal from the context from which they are displayed. They effectively remove the viewer from the mindset of battle and place clear emphasis on the voice over of internal monologue that is usually concurrent with the break-away visuals.

  *Which characters function as stock characters and stereotypes and how can the presence of each be justified in the film?

~ Oddly, the character of Corporal Fife played by Adrien Brody  was one of the largest differences from how the story plays out from the original novel. The book follows Cpl. Fife thoroughly and the story is through his eyes. From the reduction of the film in the editing process, Brody's performance was whittled down to just a supporting character with about 5 minutes of screen time. This is partially because he plays a typical soldier and through the eyes of the director, he became a stock character.

 http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/16_things_you_need_to_know_about_terrence_malicks_the_thin_red_line
 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1084146-thin_red_line/

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120863/