In association with

The Thin Red Line [1999]
from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
starring Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, Ben Chaplin, George Clooney

Features:

• Anamorphic
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

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

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• Film as it should be made
  The "Thin red line" is film as it should be made, as an art form rather than entertanment. Whoever did the cinematography for this film is a pure genius as it is truly mesmerizing. Id recommend this film to anyone who actually likes good films and wants to get away from the tripe that is currently being made by the bucket load. Although after watching this film it does make you wonder why dont we have more films like this being made on a regualr basis???

• My Best film of all time!
  Yes it is a bold statement to make but this really is the best film I have seen.
  The great cast, the way it was filmed, the music, the emotion - it just has it all. Cannot fault it whatsoever.
  Let's hope some day they release the full six hour version on DVD!

• The most psychological and poetic of war movies
  I can only assume that the folks who give this a low rating were looking for some straightforward blood and guts (of which there are plenty) but did not have the sensibilities required to deal with a movie which, first and foremost, is about a man determined to retain decency and a true love of humanity in circumstances where these things are all but impossible. It shows more terror than heroism, and what heroism is shown is shown in small and usually futile episodes.
  Another theme explored and made... more info

• "What's this war in the heart of nature? Why does nature vie with itself?"
  "What's this war in the heart of nature? Why does nature vie with itself?"
  This epic movie opens with the above narration by Jim Cavaziel's character, a private in the US marines, amid scenes of apparent paradise on an island in the Pacific, whilst an extract from Gabriel Faure's Requiem floats magically above the sounds of sea, surf and native villagers going about their daily lives. A war film? Yes, for it is the comparison between this scene and the gore and bloodied desperation to come that... more info

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