How does the director Terrence Malick present his views on war in the film, ‘The Thin Red Line?

In the film ‘The Thin Red Line,’ director Terrence Malick presents his anti-war message through an objective view of war’s crunching of humanity. Malick provides a distressing image of man’s inhumanity to nature and the immorality of war when all men are ‘brothers.’ The story of ‘The Thin Red Line’ covers the events of the Guadalcanal campaign during 1942, where the real enemy is war itself. The director unites the use of various camera angles and powerful orchestral music with a poignant script to epitomize the ultimate meaningless and dehumanization of war. Filled with unforgettable imagery and philosophical interior monologues, the film displays a frightening, surrealistic vision of war and shows the audience they way war destroys human life and nature.

In the opening scenes, the deep and resonating organ music sets up the dark mood where the audience begins to presume that danger is lurking. Significantly, the opening shot of ‘The Thin Red Line’ is that of a ...