The Thin Red Line

1998 "Every man fights his own war."
7.6| 2h51m| R| en| More Info
Released: 23 December 1998 Released
Producted By: Fox 2000 Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.

... View More
Stream Online

Stream with Prime Video

Director

Producted By

Fox 2000 Pictures

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
sabian89 The cast is very good, the cinematography too but the movie is very boring. The lenght is the worse.
vasean-71009 In the 1970's Terrence Malick's directorial debut "Badlands", and 5 years later "days of heaven" established him as a fresh, unique voice in a decade that produced a new generation of film makers. Both offerings were both powerful and visually beautiful, and then, he disappeared for twenty years.... He returned to direct one of the greatest war films of all time. No The Thin Red Line does not have a typical story line, but neither does life, and that is what Malick captures and expresses in Red Line so honest and eloquently. Rather than the typical Hollywood plot arc, Malick instead focuses on the conflict, love, and fear the characters are going thru at that moment in time, and in relation to the war. It saddens me but does not surprise me that there are people who don't get Thin Line. Thankfully both critics in the states and around the world both "got" Thin Line, and also often considered it to be the best film of the decade. War is a traumatic experience, and Malick captures that with the honest narration that threads throughout the film. He exposes the characters with their inner narrations, offering the viewer a deeper, and more vulnerable portrait than is usually depicted in typical war films. In many ways it's more a profound character film with the backdrop of war secondary, serving as a setting to explore these characters. Never have I seen a film, or director who better explores the human character so honestly as Malick. That combined with the stunning choreography makes for a unique and beautiful cinematic experience. It's my guess that the people who don't get this film or Malick, are probably also the people who don't get life on a deeper and more honest level.
BKunaefi In my opinion, the most beautiful yet powerful movie of all time. It shows you the beautiful side of nature, and the horrors of war in the most mesmerizing way possible. With the most stunning score of Hans Zimmer's makes this, my second favorite war movies of all time, after Apocalypse Now of course.
Asif Khan (asifahsankhan) "The Thin Red Line," being released so close to "Saving Private Ryan", is destined to be called "that other war movie of 1998." This is very unfortunate and definitely very wrong. For, "The Thin Red Line" is not just another brutal war movie. It is a visual and thematic masterpiece. In any other year, this would've probably been the highlight, rather than being dubbed as an imitation of Spielberg's war-epic.For sure, "The Thin Red Line" is not as disturbing to watch as "Saving Private Ryan" is. Even though, this film capture the war- genre more accurately. It is a complete fiction, (so is Saving Private Ryan) but at least this one is more true to the horrors of warfare. Though not as nearly as graphic, the directing seems to produce a very suspenseful and uncomfortable connection to the battles at hand. Thus, be warned that parts of this movie can be very hard to watch, and are certainly not for everyone. The violence at least is not an end in itself, and serves to illustrate the sacrifice and madness young men endured in WWII to fight for our freedom. In these respects, "The Thin Red Line" is similar to "Saving Private Ryan". One might well ask why watch two such gruesome features in one year?The actors in "The Thin Red Line" are making one movie, and the director is making another. This leads to an almost hallucinatory sense of displacement, as the actors struggle for realism, and the movie's point of view hovers above them like a high school kid all filled with big questions. My guess is that any veteran of the actual battle of Guadalcanal would describe this movie with an eight-letter word much beloved in the Army.The bigger problem which will come to mind when people seen it in recent years: the voice-overs of the characters' thoughts. The problem is that not one of these voice-overs is realistic in the least. They all seem to be written by the same poet or philosopher who has never actually been to war, but has seen a couple good war movies and read a few war novels. He is thinking in the style of "The Grand Poetry of War," which is sharply at odds with everything that is happening on screen. Their thoughts are not real, nor do they seem to be real; they are obvious fabrications meant to manipulate us into thinking of war in romantic terms. The language is beautiful, and the metaphors accurately describe the horrors of war. But unless the company shown in the movie is made up completely of Yale English professors, the voice-overs feel far removed from the individual thinking the thoughts. On the other hand, the Japanese throughout are totally depersonalised (in crucial scenes, their language is not even translated with subtitles); seen as enemies so much as necessary antagonists--an expression of nature's compulsion to "contend with itself."Sidebar: "Saving Private Ryan" wins in terms of scary scenes, but nothing like the constant terror seen in the eyes of Malick's actors. And they all manage to do this with a relatively small amount of screen-time.