this was the most beautiful and sad war movie i've ever seen. i haven't been moved like this by a movie in a long while. not only did it invoke a very touching and emotional story but it brought to mind key questions in a persons faith. last sunday i watched terrence malick's "days of heaven" and was impressed by the wonderful visuals but a little displeased with the story and editing; terrence took the same beauty and movement that he placed in "days of heaven" into "the thin red line" but this time he took a great story from james jones (writer of the novel, "the thin red line").
the thing that really made this movie stand out from other war movies is how it didn't glorify war. so many movies show how great and powerful the american army is and how we persevered through extreme hardships to overcome "evil". it is usually glorified and applauded. both of my grandpa's served in wwii in the pacific; my grandpa leonard hackett ii was part of the squad that surveyed the destruction after we dropped the bomb on hiroshima and my grandpa dean burkhardt served in the navy. neither one ever talked about the war. war is not something that is to be reveled, it's a terrible event that people have had to endure.
i can see where band of brothers came from with multiple characters that you grow attached too, learn to love and cry over when misfortune meets them. malick found a great balance of having many big named actors fill the scattered characters in this film. i honestly feel that each one was necessary to evoke the emotions, moral dilemmas, and character of the soldiers.
saving private ryan came out the same year (1998) but you can see a stark difference in story and style between the two. i enjoy saving private ryan, a huge step in filmmaking but it is more for entertainment value than cognitive value (granted there are good things to learn and dwell about, such as with almost everything if you look hard enough). i'm not coming down on saving private ryan; they are two wwii films but on the opposite sides of the spectrums when it comes to filmmaking and storytelling.
we are not immortal, we are very human. why do we hate our brothers and kill our fellow man? why do we let selfishness and greed consume our being and in some shape or form we attack others? what do we gain from this? God is love. we should be loving our neighbors as ourselves. we should be doing unto others like we would have them do unto us. more and more i flee from the thought that war is every good or needed. it's a tough subject but maybe if we start treating others like they are human beings and meeting our neighbors and extending a smile and a "hello" to a stranger on the street this anger/hate/jealousy/greediness/and sin would vanish from our beings and we can fill it with love. we need less of our ownselves and more goodness and love which comes from God.
less of me and more of You.
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