Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1926 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-06-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Hungarian, Polish, Icelandic, Finnish, Czech
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 166 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the cinema's great disappearing acts came to a close with the release of The Thin Red Line in late 1998. Terrence Malick, the cryptic recluse who withdrew from Hollywood visibility after the release of his visually enthralling masterpiece Days of Heaven (1978), returned to the director's chair after a 20-year coffee break. Malick's comeback vehicle is a fascinating choice: a wide-ranging adaptation of a World War II novel (filmed once before, in 1964) by James Jones. The battle for Guadalcanal Island gives Malick an opportunity to explore nothing less than the nature of life, death, God, and courage. Let that be a warning to anyone expecting a conventional war flick; Malick proves himself quite capable of mounting an exciting action sequence, but he's just as likely to meander into pure philosophical noodling--or simply let the camera contemplate the first steps of a newly born tropical bird or the sinister skulk of a crocodile. This is not especially an actors' movie--some faces go by so quickly they barely register--but the standouts are bold: Nick Nolte as a career-minded colonel, Elias Koteas as a deeply spiritual captain who tries to protect his men, Ben Chaplin as a G.I. haunted by lyrical memories of his wife. The backbone of the film is the ongoing discussion between a wry sergeant (Sean Penn) and an ethereal, almost holy private newcomer (Jim Caviezel). The picture's sprawl may be a result of Malick's method of "finding" a film during shooting and editing, and in some ways The Thin Red Line seems vaguely, intriguingly incomplete. Yet it casts a spell like almost nothing else of its time, and Malick's visionary images are a challenge and a signpost to the rest of his filmmaking generation. --Robert Horton

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Surround 5.1
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Original Theatrical Trailer
Melanesian Songs
Czech\Danish\Finnish\Hebrew\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Portuguese\Swedish

Synopsis
Terrence Malick returns to Hollywood after a two-decade hiatus with this adaptation of the classic WWII novel by James Jones. The story follows the efforts of an army platoon to capture the Japanese-controlled island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean, which will have a major effect on the outcome of the war. The members of C-for-Charlie Company are all fighting for different reasons: Some to achieve glory, some to fight for democracy, and some simply to remain alive. They spend the quieter moments reflecting upon their existence, searching for meaning amid the senselessness of war.
Malick's reputation as one of cinema's most brilliant directors, based on his masterworks BADLANDS and DAYS OF HEAVEN, enabled him to pull together one of the largest ensemble all-star casts in Hollywood history. The result is a sprawling epic that carries itself like a poem read in a dream, a feeling that is greatly enhanced by John Toll's floating camerawork and Hans Zimmer's haunting score. Rather than concentrating solely on the violence and destruction of war, Malick uses the situation to address philosophical questions such as man versus nature, war versus peace, and good versus evil. THE THIN RED LINE proves that after a 20-year layoff, Malick hasn't lost a step.

Customer Reviews

For once a war movie that doesn't glorify war
Of all the war movies, that I have seen, I would rate this one as one of the best. It depicts the horrors and meaninglessness of war, instead of glorifying it, and how it destroys the people participating in it. This movie shows war from a personal perspective with much work done in showing the soldiers emotions and their dilemmas of conscience. It is a thin red line between sanity and insanity that is being tread.

Good acting and one where Sean Penn stood out as an actor for me.

One of the best war films ever!
This is one my favourite films ever, its a beautiful piece of art, very moving and powerful with an excellent soundtrack. Alongside the artistic message though is some of the toughest and most realistic battle scenes I have ever ever witnessed in a movie, really on a par with "Saving Private Ryan".

Its a testimony to how good the story/script is and the reputation of the director Terence Malick by how many famous actors wanted to appear in the film. Some like Nick Nolte and Sean Penn appear throughout the move, others like George Clooney and John Travola only have brief scenes and others like Nicholas Cage and Martin Sheen were apparently cut out to make the nearly 3 hour length of the film more "acceptable."

Some people dont like this film because of its length and that it takes 40 mins before the first battle starts but I feel this mirrors real life, in that you dont flick a switch and something starts and then stops in war, things build up especially battles. We see the men cooped up on the transport ship with the tension building, the beach assault with a mysteriously missing enemy, the march through the endless jungle, passing wounded going the over way and the ever present nature/wildlife which seems indifferent to the wars of man. The locals for the most part certainly do (although in reality, and in some scenes, they did assist the Allies against the hated Japanese who abused their women and made slaves of the men.)

When the action begins it explodes, if you like thoughtful interesting films that make you think and that move you watch The Thin Red Line. It should have 10 stars.

Pacifica
This film shatters the standard convetions for a war film and gently replaces them with an intrinsic, poetic and beautifully rendered piece of film making. From start to finish the quality of the photography is fantastic and the director's faultless talent to depict vivid environments is wonderfully illustrated with seamless editing.

A scene depicting two soldiers getting shot while approaching a bunker is superbly complimented by the sun peaking out from the clouds just after they have fallen and disappeared into the tall grass. The absolute tension and thick air of the pre-dawn build-up to the attack with Nick Nolte and John Travolta is one of the greatest scenes of tension I have witnessed.

Personal narratives and agendas throughout the film flood the viewer with emotions and feelings that you wouldn't normally associate with a war film. The soundtrack here is also one of the film's strong points and effortlessly entwines itself into the path of the edits. Engrossing, beautiful and an absolute pleasure to immerse yourself into.