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In Reply to: Thin red line posted by Emit on July 28, 2000 at 10:14:28:
I think The Thin Red Line is the most pretentious POS I've ever seen. The symbolism is from English 101 (e.g. the film opens with two GIs relaxing in this peaceful, edenlike, tropical island. They are at one with nature and the natives. Cut to a huge, loud, gray, demonic U-boat. This evil invention of barbaric man disrupts the serenity of nature and peaceful savages. Gag me!). And then we have the soldier with the 3rd grade education profoundly expressing thoughts he couldn't possibly form, let alone articulate. Faulkner could get away with this, but Mallick cannot. The cinematography, although pretty, was self-conscious. The acting was good, but that can't save what is a fundamentally poor piece of cinema. SPR may be a "Hollywood" war film, but it's far better than The Thin Red Line. At least Spielberg didn't have to say "Look how smart I'm trying to be." throughout his film. The Thin Red Line is a film for pseudo-intellectuals.
I completely disagree with you. Basically, what you see below are the thoughts my friend Josh had when we discussed the movie:This is a vast over simplification of what is going on. It is not
mankind's intrusion into the the 'natural' environment that is the focus of what is going on here. The U-boat is, of course, the rude interruption into the "idyllic" lifestyle that Wit is experiencing, but the driving theme of the world is not technology's intrusion into nature, but rather the way that beauty exists alongside death within nature. To reduce the introduction (which does establish a vision of an eden like environment interrupted by the iron reality of a u-boat) to a simple nature vs. machine theme is to ignore what happens later, when Wit revisits the former Eden and finds it changed because he has changed.
< expressing thoughts he couldn't possibly form, let alone Who is being pretentious now? Why, oh why, do you assume that
Wit has a 3rd grade education? Is it because of his accent?
If so I take offense to that since I am from West Virginia. First off to assume that someone needs to have a university education in order to articulate profound thoughts is arrogant in the extreme, but further, there is no background given on Wit's education so all we know is what the film tells us... and that is that he is in a constant state of emotional and intellectual engagement. This in intself makes him an intelligent person.> The cinematography, although pretty, was self-
> conscious.Yes it was self-conscious in the sense that it was constantly seeking to develop and enrich the intellectual themes of the film, I don't see this as a negative but rather a postivie. Given that you claimed that the theme was "man invading nature" however I can see why the apparent self-awareness of the "pretty" cinemetography disturbed you. There were many, many themes being developed (want me to rattle off a few? OK: What happens to the Homeric model of war in a, you'll forgive the term, post-modern world. Does experience destroy innocence (love, beauty). Many, many more)
> The acting was good, but that can't save what is a
> fundamentally poor piece of cinema. SPR may be a "Hollywood" war > film, but
> it's far better than The Thin Red Line. At least Spielberg didn't have to
> say "Look how smart I'm trying to be." throughout his film. The Thin Red
> Line is a film for pseudo-intellectuals.Right, instead Spielburg got to do the "I don't have to think so I am going to rattle off a bunch of cliches" film. SPR does an excellent job in the first half-hour of demonstrating the utter horror of war. Granted, but what happens then? A series of overused images being enacted by one-dimensional characters ... if a point is to be made it will be driven in with jack-hammer subtlety.
I understand your points, but I still disagree and maintain my argument. TRL hits you over the head repeatedly with it's transparent symbolism. I was insulted, frankly. Malick is such a pretentious filmmaker, it makes me sick. He's made three films too many.I never said TRL was just about nature v. machines. Like you said, in the first scene, you have war v. peace, man v. nature, peace v. death, beauty v. horror, etc. but nature v. machines is also a part of this. Regarding the intelligence of Wit, you're on very shakey ground here. It's obvious that this character dropped out of school at a very early age to work on the farm. Listen to his speech (not his accent), and notice the way he behaves in the presence of his superiors. This is not an intelligent character. If Malick wanted him to be, he did a poor job.
I appreciate your thoughts, but this film is very hollow.
> Listen to his speech (not his accent), and notice the way he behaves
> in the presence of his superiors. This is not an intelligent character.Care to elaborate? I know quite a few "Wits" in real life, who are impulsive, uneducated, and unafraid of punishment. But to imply that they aren't capable of subtle, articulated thought is absurd. In my experience quite a few poets, musicians, and other artists fall into this realm.
-Chris
I agree with you, Justin.
I don't think that's the worst war film I've seen, certainly there are much worse ones.(What's POS?)
I never finished watching it; slowness isn't a problem, but cliches are. I also don't think that SPR was half as bad as people here say it was.
The Thin Red Line isn't the worst film I've ever seen, but it is the most pretentious one I've ever seen. POS stands for piece of sh*t.
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