The Thin Line (1998)
Movie | |
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German title | The fine line |
Original title | The Thin Red Line |
Country of production | United States |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1998 |
length | 170 minutes |
Age rating | FSK 16 |
Rod | |
Director | Terrence Malick |
script | Terrence Malick |
production |
Robert Michael Geisler , Grant Hill , John Roberdeau |
music | Hans Zimmer |
camera | John great |
cut |
Leslie Jones , Saar Klein , Billy Weber |
occupation | |
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The Thin Red Line (AKA The Thin Red Line ) is a war epic , a drama at the time of World War II , and is based on the novel Island of the Damned ( The Thin Red Line ) by James Jones , who himself at the Battle of Guadalcanal took part.
Another film adaptation of the novel was released in 1964, entitled Seven Days Without Mercy .
action
In August 1942, the Company C lands of the First Battalion of the 27th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division on the orders of General Quintard on the Solomon Islands -Insel Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean and fights his way there through the tropical rainforest to the strategically important island the To snatch the Japanese who have established an air force base there. The American soldiers try in their own way to escape the cruel reality: Private Witt leaves the troops without permission and seeks the idyll of the local nature and villages. Private Bell dreams of his wife in a distant home.
When a frontal attack on a heavily fortified hill is repeatedly repulsed by the Japanese, a dispute breaks out between company commander Staros and his superior Lieutenant Colonel Tall. In view of the extremely high casualties among his men, Staros refuses to continue what he considers to be a senseless frontal attack, and instead proposes an attack across the flank . Lieutenant Colonel Tall, on the other hand, energetically demands further attacks without being present in order to conquer the hill quickly. Staros, who believes that Tall is misjudging the local situation, refuses to give this direct order. Beside himself with anger, Tall, who had previously been told by General Quintard that a quick victory would represent the very last chance for him to become a general himself, hands over the command of a raid to his Executive Officer Captain Gaff over Staros' head . This surprisingly succeeds in occupying an important position for the Japanese, so that the hill can now be conquered quickly. The Americans are now killing many Japanese defenders with relatively few losses of their own. The surviving enemies turn out to be starved and desperate.
By this victory, however, Staros, who had stood up for his men, is compromised; he now stands there as a coward who was not prepared to use all the necessary means. Tall spared him a procedure for insubordination , but had Staros transferred to the USA because of his allegedly too soft manner, but offered him high military awards for this.
Back in the security of the camp, Private Bell learns that his wife wants to divorce him and is desperate. During his forays across the island, Witt discovers a village in which the inhabitants have become aggressive due to the war, he also finds bones laid out there and realizes that the natives do not live in a non-violent idyll either. Other soldiers also suffer from what they have seen and done. While on patrol in the rainforest, Witt risked his life to save his company from an ambush, and finally allowed himself to be shot by the Japanese instead of surrendering in a hopeless situation.
When the American soldiers, marked by their experiences, finally left the island after their victory in February 1943, they faced an uncertain future. Meanwhile, nature on the island of Guadalcanal can regenerate from human interventions and is returning to its original state.
The war in The Thin Red Line
The Thin Red Line contrasts war with the beauty of untouched nature, which is presented in its various forms and seems to play a “main role”. The images of war, death and destruction are repeatedly interrupted by long tracking shots through wild treetops, intensive zooms on flora and fauna and again and again by shots that show grass swaying in the wind: Malick uses nature to make the violence perpetrated by people transparent close. What people do to each other and to nature is not something that belongs in this world from the start, but it is counter-natural: “This evil, where does it come from? How does it steal into this world? ”And“ How did it come about that we lost the good that was given to us? ”Ask the off-screen voices.
In addition, nature appears in the film as a symbol for a transcendent reality that is able to protect those who know about it from horror. Private Witt knows about an otherworldly "light" that cannot be destroyed. For him, the immanent symbol for this is the world of the natives who live in peace with nature and with one another, to which he repeatedly fled and thus withdrew from the world of war. The way to reach this other world, however, consists in that serenity in death that Witt once perceived in his mother: “I just hope that I face death just as she does. With the same serenity. Because there it is hidden, the immortality that I have not yet seen ”. In his last minutes, Witt achieved this serenity. Surrounded by the Japanese, he makes his decision and lets himself be shot. The fact that the world of the islanders, in which he immersed himself after his death, is again as untouched as it was at the beginning shows that Witt's vision may be corrupted in this world, but cannot be taken from him entirely.
In the nature that can be seen again and again, the logic of war is also lost - at least in the struggle for the hilly landscape. As well thought-out as the strategy may have been before the battle, it takes a backseat to the battle. To be the enormous probability at any moment killed or maimed, makes many soldiers to irrational madman that only the courage of despair and fear of the consequences of desertion can be still capable of reasonably purposeful action. Although the camera is right there in the action, it is noticeable that there are hardly any landmarks. Those killed disappear into the tall grass and no longer play a role. The war no longer has any effect on those who are dead. Malick relentlessly shows how people die, showing both American and Japanese victims. The captured Japanese are of particular interest. Few war films take the time to look at the vanquished. The Thin Red Line shows these prisoners; they are mistreated, are in shock and weep for their dead comrades. Every war demands victims on both sides, every war is about people who are existentially threatened, every war knows perpetrators and victims.
The Thin Red Line offers a counterpoint to the war film paradigm of the present: In addition to the view of the (defeated) opponents, the depiction of war makes it particularly clear that it does not simply break out on people, but is brought into the world by people.
Literary template
After James Jones with his first novel "From Here To Eternity" ( Eternity ), in which he processed his experiences as a soldier in the period shortly before and shortly after the war began, in 1951 a spectacular success had succeeded, followed in 1962 , "The Thin Red Line ” , in which Jones in turn processed his own experiences. The historical background is the battle of the Solomon Islands island of Guadalcanal , in which US troops expelled the Japanese occupation forces from the island between August 7, 1942 and February 8, 1943 and thus recaptured the first Japanese-occupied island in the Pacific War.
The name of the island remains in Jones' novel, but geography and army units are fictional.
The title
For the title "The Thin Red Line" Jones apparently inspired two verses in equal measure: "There's only a thin red line between the sane and the mad", goes a proverb from the Midwest and the soldiers in Jones' novel always move barely on either side of this line : Some cope with their experiences, some not and some are crazy without anyone noticing. On the other hand, a line from Rudyard Kipling's poem “Tommy” , which alludes to the Battle of Balaklava, reveals the image of the British soldier in peace and war: “Then it's Tommy this, an 'Tommy that, an' 'Tommy,' ow's yer soul? ' But it's' Thin red line of 'eroes' when the drums begin to roll ". Just like the " Tommy " in Kipling's poem, Jones' soldiers, despite everything they have to endure, are systematically driven and can only occasionally fight for small victories.
Production dates, cast and crew
Jones' novel was filmed by Andrew Marton under the title The Thin Red Line (D: Andrew Marton, USA 1964) as early as 1964, starring Keir Dullea and Jack Warden among others .
Terrence Malick , who directed and wrote the screenplay for the remake, was already in 1973 with Badlands (Badlands - Zerschossene Träume, D: Terrence Malick, USA 1973) and the Oscar-winning Days of Heaven (In der Glut des Südens, D: Terrence Malick , USA 1978), for whom he had also written the book, had been successful, but then had taken a break of almost twenty years.
Phoenix Pictures, Geisler-Roberdau and Fox 2000 Pictures took over the production. The camera was directed by John Toll , who had already won the Oscars for Legends of the Fall ( Legends of the Fall , D: Edward Zwick, USA 1994) and Braveheart (D: Mel Gibson , USA 1995). In addition to Leslie Jones and Saar Klein, who were relatively unknown up to that point, Billy Weber, who had already worked with Malick on Days of Heaven and in 1986 with Top Gun (Top Gun - You fear neither death nor the devil, R : Tony Scott, USA 1985) was nominated for an Oscar.
Hans Zimmer , who had already won the Oscar for The Lion King (D: Roger Allers / Rob Minkoff, USA 1994) was responsible for the music . In addition to Zimmer's compositions, u. a. also use The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives .
Many Hollywood stars agreed to take on small roles. The role of First Sergeant Welsh was taken on by Sean Penn , known from Casualties of War (D: Brian de Palma, USA 1989) and Dead Man Walking - His Last Walk (D: Tim Robbins, USA 1995). Nick Nolte , known from The Prince of Tides (The Lord of the Tides, D: Barbra Streisand, USA 1991), took on the role of Lieutenant Colonel Tall, John Cusack , previously in Grosse Pointe Blank (Grosse Pointe Blank - Erst der Mord , then the pleasure, D: George Armitage, USA 1997) that of Captain Gaff.
George Clooney , known from From Dusk Till Dawn (D: Robert Rodriguez, USA 1996), Woody Harrelson , who caused a sensation with Natural Born Killers (D: Oliver Stone, USA 1994), and John Travolta were also seen in smaller roles , Oscar-nominated for Pulp Fiction (D: Quentin Tarantino, USA 1994), while some larger roles were taken on by rather unknown actors: James Caviezel took on the role of Private Witt, Elias Koteas played Captain Staros, Ben Chaplin Private Bell, Adrien Brody Private Fife and Dash Mihok Private Doll.
The film was shot for a total of 127 days in the USA, the Solomon Islands and Australia.
After extensive editing and shortening from just under six hours to 170 minutes, the film was released in cinemas at the end of 1998.
Others
In contrast to war films like Black Hawk Down or Saving Private Ryan , which show a much more positive, heroic image of the US Army, the anti-war film The Thin Red Line received no support from the US Department of Defense or the US military.
Voice actor
The voice actors for the German version:
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Reviews
“Another lavishly staged war film that […] shows the fight with all its horror. The soldiers' thoughts flow in, quiet moments with wonderful pictures of the picturesque nature alternate with terrible war slaughter. Blatant contrasts and good actors - many of them only in short appearances - keep the viewer interested, although since Coppola's ' Apocalypse Now ' at the latest, one has to ask oneself whether such war films really still have to be? "
“[Malick] returned to the film business after twenty years to share the greatness of creation. [... He] takes no account of the usual narrative rhythm. He lets up and down as it suits him, whistles about tension curves and at the end strings about fourteen closing words together. [...] So while the film doesn't give any answers in terms of content, the pictures do. "
“Terrence Malick combines motifs from the novel [...] with a poetic evocation of unspoiled life and countless individual meditations on the meaning of existence and the phenomenon of war. The film does not achieve the ultimate cohesion, but nevertheless deserves the attention of an audience open to the idiosyncratic style. "
“I often thought I was useless in war, why? Well, not because I'm a coward or because I'm unwilling to stand up and fight for my country, but rather ... I have a firm belief that there is no difference between you ... and me. […] We are the same, and each one is wonderfully unique and full of our brilliant images that dance in our heads. [...] Why should I kill you now or ever? "
Awards
Oscars 1999
- Best film nomination
- Nomination for best director
- Nomination for the best script adaptation
- Best camera nomination
- Best tone nomination
- Nomination for the best cut
- Nomination for best original music drama
Berlinale 1999
The film was awarded the Golden Bear by the jury as the best film in the competition at the Berlinale .
literature
- James Jones: Isle of the Damned . Fischer (Tb.), Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 978-3-596-14188-3 .
- Thomas Bohrmann, Mathias Grandl: "Every war is different, every war is the same": War in the film . In: Thomas Bohrmann, Werner Veith, Stephan Zöller (Eds.): Handbuch Theologie und Popular Film. Volume 1 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2007, ISBN 978-3-506-72963-7 , pp. 79-94.
- Chiari, Bernhard et al. (Ed.): War and the military in the film of the 20th century. Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 978-3-486-56716-8 .
- Nadja Kronemeyer: The thin line. In: Film genres. War Movie. Edited by Thomas Klein, Marcus Stiglegger and Bodo Traber. Reclam, Stuttgart 2006, pp. 336-345 [with literature]. ISBN 978-3-15-018411-0 .
- Frank McAdams: The American War Film. History And Hollywood , Figueroa Press, Los Angeles 2005, ISBN 1-932800-10-7 .
- Polan, Dana: Auteurism and War-teurism: Terrence Malick's War Movie . In: Robert Eberwein (ed.): The War Film. Rutgers Univ. Press, New Brunswick - New Jersey - London 2005, ISBN 0-8135-3497-6 , pp. 53-61.
Web links
- The Thin Red Line in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- The fine line in the online film database
- The narrow ridge atrotten tomatoes(English)
- Thomas Assheuer : Hollywood in the war in the period 13/1999, Thomas Assheuer is The Thin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan over
- David Walsh : An appalling state of war on World Socialist Website
- The actor Alexander Khuon recommends the film "Der schmale Grat" by Terrence Malick (rbbKultur, April 18, 2020)
Individual evidence
- ↑ synchronkartei.de: The narrow ridge. Retrieved September 20, 2015 .
- ^ Richard Oehmann: The narrow ridge - The Thin Red Line. In: Artechock. Retrieved July 15, 2008 .
- ^ Harry Knowles: The Thin Red Line Review. In: Ain't It Cool News. January 13, 1999, accessed on July 15, 2008 : “I've often felt I would be useless in a war, why? Well, not because I'm a coward and wouldn't stand up and fight for my country, but rather… I have a firm belief that there is no difference between you… and me. [...] We are the same, but each wonderfully unique with our own masterful images dancing in our heads. [...] Why now or anytime should I kill you? "