The Thin Red Line - Benjamin Hilton

Title/Year: The Thin Red Line/1998

Director/Birth Country/Year Born: Terrence Malick/USA/1943

Budget:  $52 million (estimated)

Gross: $81.6 million (worldwide)

Synopsis: In World War II, American soldiers attempt to take over an island in the Pacific where Japanese soldiers are building an airstrip to invade Australia.

Narrative and Visual Keywords: AWOL, World War II, Japanese, American, Air Strip, death, water, peace, self sacrifice, Charlie Company, bunker, machine gun, POW, morphine, hill, Dear John Letter,

Characterization/Dialogue: Pvt. Witt, a carefree person, is sent with fellow soldiers to take over an island inhabited by Japanese soldiers.

Camera/lighting/editing technique: Malick uses long extended shots throughout most of the movie. Even in some of the battle scenes shots drew out for longer then 2 seconds, as opposed to short shots that give the battle a sense of fast paced excitement. Very few of the shots were static as well. The surreal shots of nature where moving, and the shots while on the battle field appeared to be mostly hand held. Though lacking in static shots, these camera moves gave the viewer a sense of direction and motion.

Historical Relevance/ Recognition: The movie is about a conflict on the island of Guadalcanal during World War II. Many viewers compare The Thin Red Line to Saving Private Ryan, another contemporary war movie. The Thin Red Line was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, but won none.

Notable Collaboration: Hanz Zimmer composed over four hours of music for the film. 

Random fact, Etc.: The average shot length for the film is roughly 7.9 seconds.

1. Several moments in the movie the soldiers show compassion for one another. One example is when Sgt. Keck attempts to throw a grenade at the enemy, but ends up only pulling out the pin. He throws himself up against a rock so that the blast does not hit any of his comrades, killing himself in the prosess. Another example is when Sgt. Welsh runs out into the field of battle so that he can give a dying soldier needles of morphine so that he can die pain free.

2.  Several scenes in The Thin Red Line contain instances of self-sacrifice. The most prominent, of course, being in the final scenes of the movie when Pvt. Witt leads the Japanese soldiers away from the direction of his unit at the cost of his own life. Another scene of self-sacrifice is when Sgt. Welsh runs out into the field of battle so that he can give a dying soldier needles of morphine so that he can die pain free.

3.   Which minor characters function to bring out the personality traits of the major characters? What do they help reveal? One example that I continue to reffer to is when a dying soldier was screaming in pain after being shot in the stomach. After a med was killed attempting to get to the soldier Sgt. Welsh ran out there to give the dying soldier morphine so that he wouldn't have to die in pain. Another is when Sgt. Welsh tells a soldier who claims to be sick to go back behind the lines. Both times he shows compassion for his men, and a human side in the war.

Pick out bits of dialogue, visual images, or scenes which you consider especially effective in revealing character and tell why they are effective. The scene where Capt. Staros refused an order from Col. Tall to send him men up the hill to attack the Japanese. Despite him knowing that it would likely result in punishment to himself he refused to let his men be slaughtered because he knew the strength of the the Japanese that were bunkered on the hill.

*Source for all information is www.imdb.com/title/tt0120863/ www.imdb.com/title/tt0120863/synopsis and www.imdb.com/title/tt0120863/trivia*