Movies - The Thin Red Line

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	Movies - The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line is a 1998 war film which tells the story of United States forces during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. It was directed by Terrence Malick, who adapted the screenplay himself from the James Jones novel of the same name, which had previously been adapted in a 1964 film. The film features a large ensemble cast, which includes Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, James Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, Dash Mihok, Tim Blake Nelson, Nick Nolte, John C. Reilly, Nick Stahl, John Travolta and John Savage.

Awards

The Thin Red Line was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Picture, Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Narrative style and themes

The movie explores the experiences and behaviour of ordinary men in wartime. It begins with two American soldiers, apparently AWOL, living in a traditional native community in the Solomon Islands, or nearby, apparently in harmony with nature. It then tells a story about the recapture of the AWOL soldiers, their landing on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomons, and the assault on strategic Japanese positions, in what led to the Allies of World War II's first decisive victory against the Japanese.

Despite featuring several intense and realistic action scenes, the movie is in essence a meditation on the nature of war, and the question of good and evil in the world — notably absent from the film is any expression whatsoever of patriotism or righteousness, both of which are ordinarily central to any war movie, whether that movie can be construed as affirming or criticizing its subject-matter. The story is told in a slow, meandering style, and indeed plot seems less important than the visual poetry of Malick's images and the philosophical questions the images and voice-over continually ask. There is no central protagonist; instead numerous soldiers are depicted with equal amounts of attention, so that the film is primarily concerned with presenting different perspectives and experiences. The ensemble cast portrays a variety of different personalities: for example, a hard bitten Colonel (Nolte) who bemoans his lack of promotion and who sees the war as a belated career opportunity, relegating the soldiers as pawns, and the inevitable clash with Charlie Company's Captain (Koteas), who is desperate to avoid any unnecessary loss of life. Other soldiers dwell on the pain of separation from loved ones, or the anguish of experiencing the act of killing a man. Voice-over narration from several characters is used throughout. A major theme of the film is the contrast between the beauty of nature and the horrors of war: in addition to the contrast between the idyllic life of the natives and the nightmare of battle, the camera often breaks away from bloody action scenes to linger on images such as a reptile on a tree, or a chick being born.

Behind the scenes/Trivia

The movie was filmed predominantly in the Daintree Rainforest in north Queensland, Australia. The soldiers firing the number two and three M2A2 artillery guns from the fire support base were actual serving members of 1st Field Regiment, Royal Australia Artillery.
In addition to the ensemble seen in the final cut of the film, Billy Bob Thornton
, Martin Sheen
, Bill Pullman
, Lukas Haas
, Viggo Mortensen
and Mickey Rourke
also performed in The Thin Red Line, but their scenes were eventually cut. Reportedly the first assembled cut ran at over six hours, with Thornton contributing three hours of narrative voice-over material.
John Travolta
starred in A Civil Action
which was released around the same time as Malick's film. He asked to have his name removed from the marketing materials for The Thin Red Line, as he didn't want audiences to be distracted from his other film since he only appeared in this film for only a couple minutes.

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Movies - The Thin Red Line

Awards

Narrative style and themes

Behind the scenes/Trivia

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