The Thin Red Line review: a transcendent film

The Thin Red Line Review (1998)

Set during the American invasion of Japanese-held Guadalcanal, you will drift between the human and the ethereal in this transcendent film. At once beautiful and horrific, this Terrence Malick masterpiece hints at that which simultaneously threatens to destroy and liberate us. The stunning visual images and Rumi-like voice overs make this a meditation in film. Really, the best way to do a Thin Red Line review is to let the narration speak for itself.

Train: Who are you who live in these many forms? You’re death that captures all. You too are the source of all that’s gonna be born. You’re glory, mercy, peace, truth. You give calm a spirit, understanding, courage, the contented heart.
Witt: One man looks at a dying bird and thinks there’s nothing but unanswered pain, that death’s got the final word, it’s laughing at him. Another man see that same bird, feels the glory, feels something smiling through it.
Welsh: If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack. A glance from your eyes and my life will be yours.
Witt: O my soul. Let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes. Look out at the things you made. All things shining.

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