Week 6's topic would be a discussion on a Movie - "The Thin Red Line". Briefly explain, this show is set during World war II on the Island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. The Island has been taken over by the Japanese and is currently being invaded by the U.S. There are countless character in this movie, such as : Sgt. Edward Welsh, Lieutenant Colonel Tall, Keck and Charles Bosche.What I think is gonna happen next is that war will never end. Mankind are greedy, one victory will lead to the attempt of another which will lead to more death and sadness.
Lieutenant Colonel Tall is known as the Cruel and Merciless person, as he insist on sending his battalion on a suicide mission to claim fame of the victory alone instead of waiting for reinforcement and share it. The attempt to capture the Japanese position is lead by Sergeants Welsh and Keck. They suffered heavy casualties in the attempt to capture the strategic hill and was unsuccessful. When Staros is determined to keep his men alive and refuses the storming of the Japanese hill, Lieutenant Colonel Tall decides to appoint a new officer in charge - Captain Gaff. War is a horrific and violent event. You can see that the director uses this inspiring story to explore the feelings of Happiness, Friendship, Fear, Hope, evolving around the characters. It is obvious that the relationship between Sgt. Welsh and Pte. Witt remains frustratingly under-developed.
From my point of view, the director choose the particular background to show how strategic the Japanese location was. The movie was taken on a Grassy Hill to show the nature's beauty and the movement of the U.S soldiers during the assault. The movie also shows how the soldiers are being driven to the brink of insanity or beyond. All in all, the movie also concentrates on the personal lives and moral view of the men. You can feel that everything in the movie has merely been preparatory, all the actions are rushing, only by that the movie is truly meaningful. I have no idea whether the director planned it or was it done naturally.
In the movie, one difficulty faces by editors is the blending of well-known actors with newbies, using voice-over, and integrating cameos. The characters are also not given equal weight or voice in the movie. According to the Press, this particular movie was unfinished and screened in December 1998. Several scenes were cut out and edited to fit the movie into one amazing piece.
I remembered the opening shots of the film. It is really good. It consists of icon, index, symbol. First we saw a crocodile(icon), which is an index of a hunter and then the story develop into a war. Then is the shot of the crocodile sink into the dark green water which symbolize the instinct of nature to survive, if necessary, by killing.
ReplyDeleteThere is another scene which I remembered the most. The scene of mothers washing their babies and a private watching them in distance. There come the voice over, “I remember my mother when she was dying. I was afraid to touch the death in her. “ This showed the fear of the private to death but which is very contrast to the scene of mothers bathing the babies. This huge contrast in the film is interesting.
A 3 hours war movie. As what i know from "Thin Red Line",american rifleman is brought in to consolidate the Allied grip on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal in 1942 in the face of Japanese invasion, but the place could be just about anywhere where war is fought.Some crack up, some die, some do heroic deeds. There are many signs and symbol used in this movie, like some hand languages used by them or symbols used to alert their companies. These signs and symbols are used worldwide nowadays.
ReplyDeleteThin Red Line is a meaningful movie. If we don't understand what the director's work, it will be a boring movie.
ReplyDeleteIn the first 30 mins,
the director introduce characters such as:
Sgt. Edward Welsh, Lieutenant Colonel Tall, Keck and Charles Bosche.
Men are never satisfied with their accomplishments, they want more & more.
This symbolizes men as greedy & merciless living beings.
The incoming of a battleship in the beginning of the story symbolize danger. It is an icon of war
The people on the island show lots of emotion, from the emotions of the mothers & their children and the 2 soldiers.
We can see the emotion & environment change quickly & the way people react to war shows sign of fear & panic.
Personally, i love this blockbuster of Semiotic Studies "The Thin Red Line".
ReplyDeleteGreedness, men are never satisfied, they want EVERYTHING!
But at the end, it only leads to death and corruption!
In this story, Lieutenant Colonel Tall shows merciless and greed, there is no any loving kindness appears in his mind.
There are tonnes of signs and symbols used in this story.
For instance, military symbols and hand languages are practice by the soldiers during their missions.
From the people, we know that FEAR overshadowed them. We aware that WAR is coming.