it has been 20 years since a terrence malick film hit theaters . his new film , the thin red line , is a strange , beautiful , enigmatic mess of a movie . the first thing that jumps out to one when they see the advertisements for this film is the huge cast . it is filled with above-the-title stars . the cast , for the most part , <POS> gives great performances </POS> . john travolta , whose role is nothing more than a cameo , seems not to have attacked his performance with that much verve . george clooney , whose role became a cameo in editing , gives a strange performance . one wonders if he knew that his performance would become the object of ridicule through a character's narration . the rest of the cast , especially nick nolte and elias koteas , <POS> are unambiguously fantastic </POS> . these actors ( and they are , with two exceptions , men ) were lured by the name of malick . terrence malick is a cinematic legend . he has often been called " the j . d . salinger of cinema . " his two previous films , badlands and days of heaven , are spectacularly beautiful and obscure motion pictures . after he made them , he disappeared for 20 years . this film marks his return . what he's made with the thin red line is a film that seems less concerned with plot than with the emotion of the moment . the narration which fills the film ( and perplexes many ) not only lets us hear the narrators ( the characters themselves ) pontificate , but also lets us hear such of-the-moment thoughts as " i'm scared . " the rather simple plot of the thin red line is used as a canvas on which many stories are painted . the plot couldly simply be boiled down to an assault on a hill . a plot synopsis for the thin red line is difficult , because the story is fractured . many stories are here , from the clash between the lieutenant ( elias koteas ) and the savage colonel ( a voracious nick nolte ) to the private ( ben chaplin ) who uses his love for the woman he left behind to keep him going . the fracturing of the story is ultimately a fault . it is as if an artist spent an incredible amount of time artfully sculpting tiny statues and then threw them into a box , shook the box , and poured the results onto a table . this basically creates a mess , but the stories can be discerned and enjoyed . i'm not declaring that the film has no structure . while saving private ryan used warfare to bookend the plot , malick uses reflection and glorious shots of nature to bookend about 90 minutes of combat . the battles in the thin red line <POS> are astonishing and display a mastery of filmmaking </POS> . <POS> the astounding cinematography in this film must also be given notice </POS> . this film uses color and light <POS> in such a fantastic way </POS> , that it will be sad to see it degraded when it has to bee transferred to video . ultimately , malick has crafted a film that is a movie that enjoys looking through the treetops more than regarding the war that rages below them . the film is filled with nature photography and the regarding of nature . while some have said that the anti-war message and pro-nature tubthumping was juvenile , it was done with so much complexity and thought , that <POS> it cannot ever honestly be called childish </POS> . after seeing the thin red line , <POS> i was haunted by it and am quite ready to see it again </POS> .
