c)e
i e,1999 MEANS MORE BAGELS
ON ORCHARD LAKE ROAD! 09

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Travolta, Woody Harrelson, and
wildlife, Terrence Malick's visual
George Clooney.
effects are consistently good and
The film proceeds to reiterate what
sometimes spectacular. At one point
several war movies in the last few
Nick Nolte's character makes a refer-
decades — including The Deer Hunter
ence to Homer, and we get the sense
and Platoon —
that through the jux-
have conditioned
taposition of splendor
us to understand:
and carnage, of man
that the horrors
and nature, the film
of battle do not
aims to cultivate an
end when the
epic flavor.
fighting ceases.
Yet despite its vis-
As "C" Corn-
ceral delights, The
pany moves in on
Thin Red Line ulti-
the Japanese
mately fails in the
camp, which,
area where the best
having been aban-
films (including, I
doned, harbors
must add, Saving Pri-
only the wounded
vate Ryan) distin-
and a few
guish themselves: as
demented strag-
compelling human
glers, heroism
drama.
gives way to dark
All too often, the
cruelty. The
dogma of the charac-
helpless are shot;
ters fails to reflect in
the recalcitrant
Director Terrence Malick:
the emotions evoked
are tortured; and
A cinematic vision that is
by the film. The
"panoramic and introspective."
both the con-
script, which is split
querors and the
between internal
conquered
walk
monologue and
J
the thin (red) line between calamity
sparse dialogue, is at times adequate
and conscience, between power and
but often plods.
fear.
Though we can hear and under-
Finally, after a few harrowing days,
stand Welsh's persistent cynicism or
the members of "C" Company are lift
Staros' distrust, they are never really
ed from the battlefield for a week's
deepened or explored, and, as a result
respite. Their primary activities are
we, like the characters (at least those
boozing and forgetting. Pvt. Witt
who survive), emerge from the nearly
takes this time to return to the native
three-hour movie unmoved and
islanders, whose peaceful but rustic
unchanged, feeling somehow that the
existence seems intended by the film-
time has not been justified.
maker to emphasize the barbarity and
It is not enough for a film about
absurdity of the technologically
war to be an impressive spectacle.
empowered, warring nations.
Sensical but not always cogent, emo-
Before long, however, Witt and the
tive but rarely moving, The Thin Red
company are back in action, fending
Line leaves us questioning its heart.
off an assault in a riverbed. In the end
1/2
we are left to ponder whether an act
of martyrous heroism signifies
"The Thin Red Line", Rated R, opens
redemptilie hope or simply intensifies
today at area theaters.
the nausea of waste and loss.
As this synopsis might indicate,
The Thin Red Line has two compo-
* # # x
Excellent
* * *
nents working in its favor: an exten-
Worthy
sive big-name cast, and the most seri-
*
Mixed
ous and relevant of projects — to
Poor
0
accurately depict the "average" experi-
Forget It
ence of the fighting man in the Pacific
theater of the Second World War,
Daniel Zimmerman is. a college
some of whose real-life participants,
junior majoring in English who, in
of course, we are fortunate to still
the past, has written movie reviews
have walking among us.
for The Jewish News. His grandfa-
Also, whether we are watching sun-
ther Milton Zimmerman, a member
light dazzle and wind toss the tall
of the Jewish War Veterans, served in
savanna grass or interspersing frames
the Pacific during World War
of mangled corpses and tropical

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Detroit Jewish News

1/15
1999

93