Cinema
The Thin Red Line
Terrence Malick · 1998
Synopsis
1942, during the Pacific War. Private Witt has deserted and lives among the villagers of a Melanesian island when he is recaptured and sent back to his company. The company is sent as reinforcements to Guadalcanal to retake the island from the Japanese; it lands without meeting resistance and moves inland, as far as a hill where a fortified bunker pins it down under heavy fire. Lieutenant Colonel Tall, passed over for promotion, sees in the battle a chance to prove himself and orders a frontal assault; Captain Staros refuses to send his men.
Context
Third feature film by its director, twenty years after the second, based on a book by James Jones, who had fought at Guadalcanal. Several well-known actors accepted a fraction of their usual fee. The first cut ran about five hours: entire roles were removed, and Adrien Brody, who believed he had the lead role, discovered on seeing the film that only two lines of his remained. Three hours of narration recorded by Billy Bob Thornton were set aside in favour of the characters' voices. Filming took place mainly in the Daintree forest, in Queensland, then for a few weeks in the Solomon Islands.
Who it is for
A film of two hours fifty, for all audiences, in which the thoughts of several soldiers, spoken in voice-over, accompany the fighting.
Prizes and reception
Golden Bear at Berlin and seven Oscar nominations; overshadowed on its release by another war film, it was ranked by Scorsese as the second-best film of its decade.
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