The Thin Red Line

In the film “The Thin Red Line”, there is a strong juxtaposition between the violent images of war and the sublime beauty of the nature. One minute, you could be watching soldiers getting slaughtered by their enemies, and then the shot switches to a beautiful, peaceful scene of the surrounding environment they were fighting in.  For instance, there was a tense scene when the soldiers were walking in a field, guns ready at their side, as they pass by an old man walking in the field opposite their direction. It appeared as if he had no idea there was a war going on because his demeanor was so peaceful and calm. The old man could be a representation of the transcendent reality of peace that man can have in his soul even in the midst of a war.

            Another example of a transcendent reality in the film is how the characters handle death. The film exposes the journey of how soldier Whit is freed from the fear of death in the midst of the war. Whit was inspired by his mother and how she embraced death with bravery and courage. At first, Whit said he didn’t understand how she could welcome death the way she did, and that he was afraid of touching the death that took her body. The way the filmmakers captured the scene of his mother’s death was in my opinion very beautiful. The room appeared as if it was placed in the middle of a beautiful field. The ceiling was replaced by the sky, and there were trees surrounding the room. The reference to nature in this scene could reference the circle of life—once we die, we return to the dust from which we came just as the trees and the flowers in the field.

            The filmmakers use war symbolically to demonstrate the war that we all experience in our souls in regards to death. There were some soldiers who fought the war without a sense of purpose for their life or death. One soldier despairingly comments how death to him meant nothing, and that they couldn’t make any difference. Whit, however, fought the war with a sense of purpose. He volunteered himself multiple times to do risky missions because he said he wanted to be there when situations were particularly difficult. His soul was at peace with meeting death, so therefore he would place himself in dangerous situations that others were too afraid to be placed in. In the end, Whit died with courage just like his mother. The war was symbolic of the battle waging in the hearts of the soldiers regarding their fear of death.