Christian Thoughts on The Thin Red Line

The Thin Red Line
Directed and Adapted for the Screen by Terrence Malick
Based upon the novel by James Jones
170 minutes
1999

One of the marks of the regenerate believer is a change in one's observations of human behavior. A good example of this for me in six years walking with the Lord is movie-watching.
I'm a big fan of Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, having become hooked on it the second time I watched it, and having enjoyed a number of repeat viewings over the past nine years. I watched it last night for the first time with the wife, and I saw more comprehensively the worldview proposed throughout the film. But more interestingly, I was struck for the first time at how each character's hopes are dashed by different idols.

The film itself is beautiful and wonderfully paced, and not a minute too long at almost three hours. Hans Zimmer's score and John Toll's cinematography make an exquisite match. It's one of the most understated and underrated war movies I've seen, with excellent acting and character development.

The overarching ethic seems to answer ultimately to pantheism, with big questions asked to no one in particular while meditative shots of nature and the carnage of war make us consider man's wicked nature and, more often, nature itself. The characters' questions resonate with us but never find satisfactory answers. That can be true of life, but it made me wonder how true it was for the majority of US soldiers in WWII. Were there many pantheists in foxholes? Pvt. Train, the main narrator (one of the film's uniquenesses is the use of many different characters' narrations, which works wonderfully in making us sympathize with them while never becoming a contrivance) asks thoughtful, yet - how should I say it - theologically impersonal - versions of the "Why?" question throughout the film, and we meet him on screen early on. Ironically, he's the only character who even mentions "The Lord," even declaring Him to be the only thing in this life that is certain. Malick doesn't diminish the young, scared, and Southern Pvt Train, but his belief is never seconded by anyone in the film. It's fascinating, then, that Malick chose him to be the narrator. I've not read James Jones' book, but perhaps Train, who sounds much wiser and reflective in his narration, ends up having his faith in absolute Truth shaken by the war, which is portrayed in many ways as a graveyard for hope. Malick's characters wonder aloud about man's universal tendency towards strife, and, while there may be a transcendent power and beauty above reproach all around us, it isn't giving much in the way of answers, so we go on hopeless.

In lieu of Pvt. Train's Christcentric certainty, seemingly belied even by his own narration, our characters hope in the uncertain, and are consequently let down. Four characters represent this well, and this was what prompted me to write this review (I will withhold certain facts in my description, so as not to spoil any surprises).

- Col. Tall (Nick Nolte) hopes to prove himself in his first war as a career military officer, having sacrificed, suffered, and struggled to this point.
- Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) talks to his sergeant of "another world" after a carefree AWOL existence with a native tribe on Guadalcanal. He even reveals his incredulity that something as impure as fighting occurs among the native innocents.
- First Sergeant Welsh (Sean Penn) seems to hope for either a complete numbness to the pain of war ("Sounds like bliss"), or for what Private Witt and his dream might hold.
- Private Bell (Ben Chaplain), in perhaps the most moving portrait of hope lost, longs to be back with his wife, from whom, he believes, death itself can't separate, and for whom he's kept himself pure.

Nick Nolte plays Col. Tall with typical gruffness appropriate to the army, but with a modicum of compassion that seems to stem from Tall's career course, pitiably revealed in his narration. His occasional hesitation, and a moment of deference to a subordinate add depth to his character.
In the end, though, Tall seems to have neither the respect of those above or below him in command, and ultimately seems to have invested too much for too little in return, in "his war," where, according to Sergeant Welsh, "everything's about property."
Private Witt returns to his island respite only to find he is feared by the natives, and they aren't as pure and sinless as he'd hoped.
Sergeant Welsh ultimately can only see Witt as confirmation of his cynicism.
For Private Bell, I will only say that the flashbacks that serve as his memories of his wife back on base are remarkably shot and edited, and are some of my favorite parts of the film. They serve wonderfully to invest us in their marriage. I will say little else, and let his inclusion on the list make my point.

In my loving estimation of these characters' motivations, I submit that Tall seeks respect and recognition, Witt seeks purity and innocence, Welsh seeks worth and integrity, and Bell seeks love and intimacy.

I wish a talent like Terrence Malick would explore the word of God and make a film about the One who came for the disrespected, manifesting purity and innocence, bestowing undeserved worth, and demonstrating incomparable love that makes warlike rebels intimate with the Author of beauty.