war cinema

[baleanoptera]

Despite the insane workload I do love my current situation. The best thing is that I have an excellent excuse to watch movies. The worst part is that I have to watch movies. Particularly war movies. And if you’ve suspected that there are a lot of bad war films out there then I can assure you that this suspicion is correct

Comments

[baleanoptera]

See, I really like the Omaha landing scene in Ryan, and I'm fascinated by the visual template that film created and set for most WWII films the next decade - but the film itself? I find it rather dull. Also I like your term of "anvilicious patriotism". I'm currently reading an article that is basically a scathing analysis of the 1998 Tom Brokaw and Saving Private Ryan phenomenon. The words "sentimental ideology" are used. I think you'd like it. ;)

As for The Thin Red Line my biggest problem is that I LOVE parts of it, and I'm incredibly annoyed by other parts - so the whole thing becomes a bit schizophrenic
.

[winterspel]

While I didn't loathe Saving Private Ryan, I didn't love it either, but I did love The Thin Red Line. I was immediately struck by how it was a film that took you to the top of the hill, where most films would end and instead, showed you all this terrific aftermath; to me it felt like a more rounded depiction of war (granted, I only saw it once, years ago, when it first came out, so I ought to see it again to see see if it holds up) and I was captivated by the "nature photography" aspects of it which provided such a strong contrast to the brutality and horror.

And I'll take anvilicious pondering any day over anvilicious patriotism and Oscar Emotional Blackmail as a driving theme.

Hee hee, me, too.

[dianora77]

I remember writing a paper on The Thin Red Line in film school. Mostly I just translated a very insightful article on the movie from English to Czech... It's not as if my professors knew a foreign language, except perhaps Russian or German. :P

[baleanoptera]

Hee. Sometime a woman has to do what a woman has to do. ;)

But The Thin Red Line really makes you think and ponder, I'll give it that.

[baleanoptera]

Yeah, but it is one my rewatch list. Actually when I think about it I think it was you who recommended it to me the first time around. :)

I feel like none of them explain the complexities well enough :PI'm in complete agreement there. To be honest that is quite a large factor in what I'm working on at the moment. (and the reason I have to watch all these films)Regardless of production value and cinematography war films are in essence fictionalisations of history, and so they will never be "true" to the event as it were. Yet the interesting and highly frustrating thing about war cinema as a genre is that it often claims to be the real deal. Think of all the critical acclaim bestowed on "Saving Private Ryan" and how it showed the Normandy beach landing "as if you were really there" etc. In fact one of the highest forms of praise a war film can get is that of realism. And from this idea of supposed realism (among other things) comes the concept of the film as a historical witness of sorts. Yet for all its realism there will always be a

[baleanoptera]

As far as I know "thin red line" as a phrase has come to mean a military unit holding firm against attack. But yes, I think the historical precedence is tied up with the Wellington.
I seem to recall that Jones chose that the title based on a poem or a quote with yet another meaning implied, but now I cannot for the life of me find it. Arg...

And yeah, "Ryan" is definitely "meh" in places. maybe I wouldn't find the film quite so dull if it hadn't been such a huge phenomenon, but since WWII films and "Ryan" have become more or less synonymous that definitely increases the meh-factor.

Awww..Brad&Nate. You make everything better.

[mnemo_syne]

It's been many years since I saw The Thin Red Line - my film history professor in undergrad knew I loved Stanley Kubrick's style and recommended I see it. From what I can recall I pretty much shared your dueling reactions. I remember being really irritated and fast-forwarding briefly in some parts, but thinking about others later...weird.

Anyway, interesting post. :)

[baleanoptera]

I remember being really irritated and fast-forwarding briefly in some parts, but thinking about others later...weird.

Yeah, my reaction is a bit schizophrenic as well. I actually think the first part of the film is the most annoying because all the characters, plots, symbolism and cinematographic angles are introduced in such rapid succession that it all becomes a bit of a mess. There is also this extreme focus on "war-as-destruction-of-nature" and in one scene a shell shocked soldier picks up pieces of grass and comparing the grass to the fallen soldiers. So okay, nature equals man, I get that symbolism - but it just feels too much like symbolism first, story second. And then I become irritated.

But then there are scenes like the Japanese field hospital or Sean Penn's character talking about "There's no world but this one" - and they are GREAT. So confusing. Malick mindfuck - let me show you it. ;P