One of the cinema's great disappearing acts came to a close with the release of The Thin Red Line in late 1998. Terrence Malick, the cryptic recluse who withdrew from Hollywood visibility after the release of his visually enthralling masterpiece Days of Heaven (1978), returned to the director's chair after a 20-year coffee break. Malick's comeback vehicle is a fascinating choice: a wide-ranging adaptation of a World War II novel (filmed once before, in 1964) by James Jones. The battle for Guadalcanal Island gives Malick an opportunity to explore nothing less than the... nature of life, death, God, and courage. Let that be a warning to anyone expecting a conventional war flick; Malick proves himself quite capable of mounting an exciting action sequence, but he's just as likely to meander into pure philosophical noodling--or simply let the camera contemplate the first steps of a newly born tropical bird or the sinister skulk of a crocodile. This is not especially an actors' movie--some faces go by so quickly they barely register--but the standouts are bold: Nick Nolte as a career-minded colonel, Elias Koteas as a deeply spiritual captain who tries to protect his men, Ben Chaplin as a G.I. haunted by lyrical memories of his wife. The backbone of the film is the ongoing discussion between a wry sergeant (Sean Penn) and an ethereal, almost holy private newcomer (Jim Caviezel). The picture's sprawl may be a result of Malick's method of "finding" a film during shooting and editing, and in some ways The Thin Red Line seems vaguely, intriguingly incomplete. Yet it casts a spell like almost nothing else of its time, and Malick's visionary images are a challenge and a signpost to the rest of his filmmaking generation. --Robert Horton [show more]
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. A powerful front line cast, including Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, and George Clooney, explodes into action in this hauntingly realistic view of military and moral chaos in the Pacific during World War II. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Terrence Malick), The Thin Red Line is an unparalleled cinematic masterpiece. Actors Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas, Jared Leto, Dash Mihok, Nick Nolte, John Savage, John Travolta, Ben Chaplin & Tim Blake Nelson Director Terrence Malick Certificate 15 years and over Year 1998 Screen Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 Languages English - Dolby Digital (5.1) Subtitles Czech ; Danish ; Finnish ; Hebrew ; Hungarian ; Icelandic ; Norwegian ; Polish ; Portuguese ; Swedish Duration 2 hours and 46 minutes (approx)
This Academy Award nominated film is set in 1942 and was Terrence Malick's first film for twenty years. As US soldiers land on the island of Guadalcanal, hoping to capture it from the Japanese, the job of venturing into the jungle falls to the 'C for Charlie' company and the troops are faced by both the enemy and struggles within their own camp. The war takes a heavy toll upon the young soldiers, leading them on a path of disillusion and possibly death.
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