Bella Rivas - Thin Red Line

    Thin Red Line was a movie that dealt with many themes of war, including the contemplation of death and the shared humanity of man. However, the main theme of the cinematography of the movie alluded to the sublime nature of the holy, and then compared it to the atrocities of war. This contrast is seen in one particular scene, where a man gets shot in a field and the camera pans to golden grass in the wind. The beauty of this scene cannot be ignored. In another scene, as a young soldier dies in the jungle, the camera pans to the sun filtering through the canopy of the trees. This is a common theme in the aesthetics of the movie: the horror of war in the midst of the beauty of nature. These scenes point to the undeniable sublime nature of the Holy, as symbolized by nature in the film, despite the brokenness and violence of man, as symbolized by war in the film. 

     Another interesting theme in the movie was the contemplation of death. In the beginning of the film, Private Witt is terrified of death. He avoids all situations where death is a possible outcome. But through his experience in war, where he was able to view the circular nature of both life and death, begins to fear death less and less. At the end of the film, he embraces death, exemplifying bravery and courage in the face of mortality. 

     This film also addresses the shared humanity of man. The poetic dialogue at the end of the film states, "What if man has one shared soul?," causing the audience to consider the violence an death that is perpetrated throughout war. This film shows the evil committed by both sides of the war, which allows one to objectively look at war, and assess the impact this has on the human value.