There’s not some other world out there where everything’s gonna be okay. One such provocation sums up Welsh’s character and nihilistic philosophy: “What difference you think you can make… one single man in all this madness? If you die it’s gonna be for nothin’. Witt remains ideally meek, believing that even the hard-edged materialist Welsh still has “a spark” in him. In this scene and the scenes that follow between the two, he tries provoking Witt with statements and questions in an attempt to dampen his spirit, but to no avail. But Welsh sees something else in Witt beyond the surface, something foreign to himself that piques his interest. Witt that he is unfit to be in his unit (he may be right, at the time) and drills him for his insubordination. However, it is not just Witt doing the seeking it’s also the worldly, cynical Sgt. This is the first of the aforementioned scenes with Witt and his superior, Sgt. Witt, he is found by his unit and must go to the “principal’s office,” so to speak, to discuss his rebelliousness. You still believin’ in the beautiful light, are you?ĭirectly after the scene with the natives, which served as a sort of recess-time for Pvt. He seems to find it in the innocence and purity that the island and its meek inhabitants encompass. Or maybe he is battle-weary and needs respite from his unit. What is he searching for here? Perhaps Witt is a rebel at heart and feels the urge to wander. The place is his refuge away from the strict and constraining order of his platoon and he goes back later in the film, hoping to escape the bitterness of battle. In his newfound utopia, he converses with the elders and plays with the children, seeming to have turned into a child himself. In the beginning of the film, Witt and a fellow soldier have deserted their platoon for a majestic island filled with natives. Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Welsh (Sean Penn) as they starkly contrast on the deeper questions of life and the world.īut since I’m not writing a review or praise of the whole movie, I’ll stick to the topic: What is Pvt. I love it for many reasons: the cinematography of that lush Pacific island the director’s unique style which, rather than conventionally focusing on the narrative, instead focuses on nature, the characters, and philosophical questions put in poetic overtones the beautifully composed score that is accompanied by a Melanesian choir native to the land and especially the three or four scenes that put all of this together with the characters Pvt. ![]() I watched it again after some months had passed, and it became my favorite movie (and seven years later still is). But again, I sensed something begging to be discovered, or at least to be enjoyed on another level. I didn’t see the film all the way through until I was twenty-seven, and to be honest, it left me feeling a bit depressed for some reason. And although I was far too young to understand and appreciate a film with such depth, I do remember sensing something mysteriously attractive about it. I remember watching just bits and pieces shortly after it came out on video (remember that?), when I was maybe fourteen years old. It becomes clear shortly into the film that he is at the center of this World War II epic, with the Battle of Guadalcanal as the backdrop, and that a kind of spiritual aura surrounds him which, in turn, affects others. ![]() In Terrence Malick’s 1998 film The Thin Red Line, Witt is played by Jim Caviezel. But what sets him apart the most is the way he looks at people and nature with his mystical stare, as if what he were looking at contained within some fantastic mystery about to be unveiled. I find Private Witt’s character in the film The Thin Red Line fascinating in many ways. After all his compassionate searching, he, surrounded by the enemy, lays down his life for his friends and falls into a blissful gaze. Throughout the film “The Thin Red Line,” Private Witt seems to be in the midst of his own form of contemplative prayer in the environment of war.
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