Terrence
Malick brings a whole new “light” with his film the Thin Red Line. I want to focus on how certain film techniques, focusing
on the distribution of light, were beneficial to this film. The Thin Red Line shows that neither
light nor darkness can win the day for the courageous men or soldiers at
battle. Malick uses nature to show the transcendent realities we inhabit on
Earth and could inhabit in a world after death. The different gradations of
light used in this film help convey religious parable.
For
example, a younger boy is out in the battlefield in the arms of an older
solider. The younger boy knows he is dying; the camera moves from a downward
view on the boy to an upward shot towards the sky, showing the distribution of
light breaking through the trees. The distribution of light is gleaming and
shining down through the trees, when the camera shoots back down at the little
boy, he is dead. This conveyed a message that the boy had entered the light, or
eternal life with the Lord. Revelation 22:5 says, “And there shall be no night
there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God
giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever”.
Later in the film, the colonel says, “Who’s deciding
who’s going to live, who’s deciding who’s going to die”; Revelation 21: 4 says,
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there by any more pain: for
the former things are passed away”. Therefore, God will grant eternal life and
“who’s going to die” will be born into a new life. We, as human beings, don’t
decide which soldier will get to see his wife and kids again, but God has a
plan for every solider on the battlefield. Verse 16 in Psalm portrays that God
will know when, where, and how we die: “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the
days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”.
This was one of my favorite films we watched in class and there were many biblical reflections I was able to make. In the middle of the film, we hear a solider say, “I killed a man, worse thing you can do, worse than rape”. This allowed me to reflect on God’s definition of sin. I was also able to reflect on the way we ask God for forgiveness. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”. I thought this bible verse reflected many things shown in The Thin Red Line because they are on the battlefield where many murders among men take place. Although these murders are with the intent to fight for freedom and their own rights, they must seek forgiveness and confess their sins to the Lord in order to receive the true freedom they are fighting for.
New International Version Bible
This was one of my favorite films we watched in class and there were many biblical reflections I was able to make. In the middle of the film, we hear a solider say, “I killed a man, worse thing you can do, worse than rape”. This allowed me to reflect on God’s definition of sin. I was also able to reflect on the way we ask God for forgiveness. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”. I thought this bible verse reflected many things shown in The Thin Red Line because they are on the battlefield where many murders among men take place. Although these murders are with the intent to fight for freedom and their own rights, they must seek forgiveness and confess their sins to the Lord in order to receive the true freedom they are fighting for.
New International Version Bible
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