By
Raymond Benson
Except
for perhaps Stanley Kubrick, no other American filmmaker has generated more
mystique about himself than Terrence Malick. Famously reclusive, Malick never gives interviews or even allows his photograph
to be taken on the set of any film he directs. In four decades, he’s made only four pictures (although a fifth, The Tree of Life, appears to be finally
set for a release in 2011).
After
a twenty-year absence from filmmaking, the artist returned to Hollywood in 1998
with The Thin Red Line, an
existential, philosophical, and meditative war movie that only Terrence Malick
could make. Critically received, it was
nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director,
and Best Screenplay. It couldn’t have
been more different from Saving Private
Ryan, Steven Spielberg’s “other†war picture of the year and one that was
immensely more popular with theater-goers. Perhaps this was because Malick’s film is mostly about sight and sound
and mood and ideas—not story or characters. Terrence Malick is a cinematic poet, and anyone who doesn’t understand
this will surely have a difficult time with the director’s work.
The
Cadillac of DVD labels, The Criterion Collection, has released a superb two-disc
set in both DVD and Blu-Ray that showcases the beauty and wonderment of The Thin Red Line. All of Malick’s films are technically
gorgeous—Oscar nominee John Toll’s cinematography was arguably the more
deserving work in that year’s category—and the new DVD presents a newly
restored high-definition digital transfer supervised by both Toll and
Malick. Toll, production designer Jack
Fisk, and producer Grant Hill contribute an enlightening audio commentary to
the film. (And Malick himself delivers a
single message to the viewer via text on the screen—he suggests it be played loud.)
The
treasure trove of the new release is disc 2, which contains a number of
fascinating extras. A half-hour
compilation of interviews with actors (including Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Elias
Koteas, and others) provides insight into Malick’s mysterious ways of
working. Another interview featurette
about the picture’s editing process uncovers even more of the director’s
intentions. For example, one of the
three editors, Leslie Jones, reveals that Malick wasn’t so much interested in
staging battle scenes as he was in exploring the non-fighting sequences in
which the men are at ease or fighting among themselves at base camp. Casting director Dianne Crittenden’s
interview discloses that Malick would often film a scene in which the actors
would speak the dialogue—and then re-shoot it with the actors not speaking the dialogue but attempting
to convey the dramatic action with facial expressions and movement. Fifteen minutes of outtakes features some
actors, such as Mickey Rourke, who never appeared in the final cut. Engrossing stuff.
The
highlight of the extras is the 18-minute interview with novelist James Joyce’s
daughter, Kaylie Jones, who brings to light her father’s motivation for writing
not only The Thin Red Line, but also From Here to Eternity and other
works.
Finally,
the inclusion of vintage World War II newsreels about the Guadalcanal conflict
exposes the way the American propaganda machine whitewashed the true horror of
battle. Juxtaposed with the feature
film’s presentation of the war, the newsreels are almost comedic.
In
short, another must-purchase product from The Criterion Collection.
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