Thin Red Line


The Thin Red Line portrays the sublime, the Holy, and a transcendent reality based on the various settings of the film as well as the use of nature in the film. I found it interesting how Malick used various camera angles as well as brighter lighting to really emphasize the battles and nature around the soldiers. This movie reminded me a lot of Apocalypse Now in the sense that the story behind it was dark, but the film itself was light. I will say, Malick definitely utilized the lighting of the settings they were in to depict a brighter battlefield. Another interesting thing that I saw was that the film communicated a way of passage from what I saw. When people would die, occasionally you would have a scene that was faced up into the trees with light shining down which showed that they were moving forward into the light. This speaks wonders in the film. Like I said before, I found it interesting how although there was so much death, there was still sun shining. Behind all of the war that was going on, the sense of sublime or calmness was still there with the sun shining. It was relatively silent at times yet there was so much going on at the same time. Using the nature piece to create that sublime feeling even though there was a hectic war going on was very interesting in my opinion. There was also one scene where the soldiers were in the river and two of the soldiers had remained eye contact for a long period of time. This reminds me of what we talked about in class where we discussed that one person looked up at their beloved and saw that their beloved was also looking back at them and everything suddenly felt calm and peaceful. I think this also created that sense of sublime feeling in the film because the two soldiers looked at each other and just stared into each other’s eyes and although they didn’t know what was to come, in that moment it was calm.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film Techniques

The short film Bunny used many high angle overhead shots to depict the point of view of the moth. This perspective puts the audience in the position of the moth so we feel more sympathy when the bunny starts trying to kill it. Dutch angles, or canted angles were used primarily during the oven sequence to promote confusion and uncertainty since this is uncharted territory for the bunny and the audience. I thought that maybe the moth was the spirit of the bunny's husband because of the close-up of the moth on their wedding photo and the fact that the moth is so persistent in trying to get the bunny's attention.  In Harold and Maude, the first scene we viewed starts off in deep focus since we can see both the mother and young women talking in the foreground as well as Harold's "suicide" in the outside garden. The camera interacts mainly with Harold during this scene especially when he breaks the fourth wall by looking at it directly. This act acknowledges the pr...
Read more

Exploring Film Techniques

“Bunny” is a short animation that depicts the transformation of the earthly body to the celestial form as the protagonist transitions into the afterlife. The moth symbolizes the guide, and we get this perception because of the different techniques used to portray the moth. The moth has a musical theme that has a driving and whimsical rhythm, giving the viewer an association of mischief with the insect. The shots portray the moth interfering with the bunny who is hard at work. The viewer resonates with the bunny’s reaction that the moth is an annoyance because the bunny is often in the side of the frame, with an open space for the moth to appear. The viewer expects that the moth will enter the frame to fill that space, yet when it does, the viewer still gets the sense that the moth is an unwelcome presence because of the bunny’s reaction as well as the presumed stupidity of the moth. The moment of truth happens when the bunny enters the oven and the moth’s spiritual significance is rev...
Read more

Dead Man

Cold Fever and Dead Man both heavily rely on funeral rituals. Both main characters are slowly headed towards performing one, whether they know it or not. What struck me about William's Blake character is that he never seems to be aware of his slow approach towards death. He does not seem to realize he is mortally wounded, and perhaps if he could get back to civilization, he could survive. At the end of the film, William is still alive during his own funeral, making him an active participate in the ritual similar to Hirata's participation in his parents' burial rites. Both protagonists are in denial about something. For William, he is denial about his mortality, whereas Hirata is in denial about the importance and sacredness of a funeral ritual. Their journeys parallel each other in that regard, as they come closer to realizing what is truly important in their respective lives. By having Johnny Depp's character named after a famous English poet, it lets the character b...
Read more