Beautiful, character-focused war flick warrants rental

A brigade of troops somewhere in Guadalcanal ascends a grassy hill. Clouds pass overhead,… A brigade of troops somewhere in Guadalcanal ascends a grassy hill. Clouds pass overhead, alternately illuminating and shrouding in darkness the young combatants as they nervously approach an enemy stronghold. Before battle erupts, several moments of foreboding silence pass as shafts of light from the sky pass gently over the rolling hills of a mountainous pacific island vista.

It would seem that Terrence Malick can even direct the weather. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could.

Malick, known for his unmatched eye for absolutely stunning visuals, has not been a particularly prolific director — in his illustrious career of nearly 35 years, he has only directed four films: “Lanton Mills” (1969), “Badlands” (1973), “Days of Heaven” (1978) and 1998’s “The Thin Red Line,” which he came out of a 20-year retirement spent teaching in France to direct.

Malick is so deified in Hollywood that half of the town’s A-list came out of the woodwork just to take minor parts in the film’s enormous ensemble cast, which most prominently features Jim Caveziel, Sean Penn and Nick Nolte as foil leads who each represent different points of view on the film’s primary philosophical issues: life, war, destruction and the relationships of mankind with itself and with nature.

Also appearing in the film are Adrien Brody, Jared Leto, George Clooney, John Travolta, Elias Koteas, John Cusack and Woody Harrelson, all in what can only be considered bit parts. In fact, Clooney is only in one scene, and only has about a minute’s worth of screen time. All involved turn in exceptional performances.

The battle of Guadalcanal here is not the centerpiece. This is not a typical war film — it is, instead, a pensive, theme-driven character drama. Slow, lilting and very deliberately paced, the film takes its time dwelling on details to examine greater philosophical issues. The war is merely the background. Nothing much happens; the company takes a hill at great personnel cost, they rest, they get shipped off to another assignment. None of that is the point (except, of course, to suggest that there is no point to such a sequence of events).

The real meat of the film is in the characters’ relationships, and the different ideas they represent. Chief among them is the interaction between Penn’s Sargeant Welsh and Caveziel’s Private Witt. We are introduced to Witt while he is absent without leave in Malaysia, living with the locals in a sandy paradise, swimming in its blue waters, playing with the local children and singing along with the tribe.

Eventually, the army finds him and Sergeant Welsh, and in what he considers a move of great benevolence for the circumstances, takes Witt under his wing as a medical officer in his company. Welsh thinks he can help Witt toughen up so that he can hack army life and become a man. Welsh himself struggles with demons, a lingering sense of solitude and pointlessness, perhaps the ashes of a long-dead idealism replaced by cold, hard armor. Witt resists Welsh’s hard-bitten worldview. He sees that Welsh is dead inside, and seeks to revive his spiritual sense of purpose and hope for mankind.

It is left to the viewer, of course, to decide who is really saving whom. If nothing else, it’s interesting to see Caveziel in the Christ role before ever doing “The Passion of the Christ.” The two play well off of each other as they discuss their philosophies and challenge each other’s beliefs at every turn.

While the themes are the core and the acting is superb, the real showcase of the film is its absolutely astonishing imagery and sound. This is, simply put, the single most beautiful film I’ve ever seen. Everything from the framing to the camera movement, the lighting and the use of color is absolutely sublime. This film has a commanding grace and artistry to its presentation, and relishes in immersing the viewer in the surreal and disturbing, yet beautiful, world of the pacific theater.

Unfortunately, “The Thin Red Line” floundered at the box office as a result of its inability to evade the shadow of “Saving Private Ryan.” Running almost exactly the same length to the minute, featuring similar subject matter and released only months after “Saving Private Ryan,” the film suffered from constant comparison to a much more accessible, more conventional predecessor.

Fans of war films who can take something unconventional and fans of visually stunning films should check out “The Thin Red Line.” After all, Malick films only come around every decade or so.

Question Dan Richey’s spiritual worldview by e-mailing him at manager@pittnews.com.