MovieChat Forums > The Thin Red Line (1999) Discussion > One of the most beautiful poetic endings...

One of the most beautiful poetic endings ever


The Island secure, the men of the battalion exit the Island, On a sunny day they walks past graves on the way to their landing craft, they are silent, they observe the graves in a detached way, Each man is alone with his thoughts but we sense a lot are thinking about Pvt. Witt who sacrificed himself to save the Battalion. Some are probably not even thinking but walking in a unconscious way, following the Man in front of them.
One by one they enter the large Landing craft, which seems to swallow them up. on board the crowded Craft, they begin to finally talk to each other, they now sense that its true they have escaped death, they are still alive, many pair up and begin conversations , we only peek in on one or two, others silently move back and forth, bumping into one another which nobody notices or complains about, the men are one, one large living organism, their experience has both shattered and bonded them . they ones who do not speak are communicating in a silent language, all understand each other with out need for words, the ones who do talk seem to be the youngest, and maybe the ones who have done the least fighting, all the men we have followed, who are now veterans of war, are silent.
The craft begins moving away from the Island, inch by inch , foot by food the men move away from the Hell they had been cast into by fate and destiny. The Island begins to recede in the background, we see other ships headed towards it. We here the poetic thought of young men, who are seeing the world in a totally different way then they saw it just days ago, their toughts are deeper, and deeper still, they ponder the very meaning of heroism, and fear, death and life. They have been transformed into something larger. The War and its random violence and death is fading from view, replaced by the crystal blue water of the Pacific, beauty replaces the Jungle, where pain and inhumanity turned them into Killers.
The blue sky, the blue Waters, pink clouds over the Mountains, the endless waves which are headed toward Guadal Canal, all of it so achingly beautiful. what a strange world, the evil, filth of Misery and fear, is replaced by an almost God Like beauty.
The Men are gone, we now see natives paddling down a green River, poetic images, and then the most beautifully filmed Birds i have ever seen, more Beauty then the eye can take in. Then the Final Image, on the beach an abandoned Helmet with vegetation sprouting besides it, Nature continues, it adapts , humanity may just be a temporary indiscretion of Bio-chemistry .
,The only sound is the wind and the sound of waves, coming in, and the the Blue waters of the Pacific, on that Island where those men came so far to Fight , and so many, and maybe the best and bravest never left.

Fade to black, a choral of children are singing the most beautiful song you ever heard.

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The final image is poetic indeed, although I think it is not an abandoned helmet but a coconut and its sprout; life goes on, no matter what.

Together with the opening when we see a crocodile ready for the hunt, this marks the beginning and the end of a story about a man contemplating two powers in nature: destruction and creation. Or aren't they two powers but two aspects of one and the same power? Creation happens because of the destruction of something else, and life is a continuing transformation of matter from one form into the other? And then there is consciousness. Is consciousness temporary or eternal? If it is eternal, then is consciousness a part of God? Are we living in God, is God living in us and all other creatures? One big 'Self'? Is God watching through our eyes, listening through our ears? Whether or not this is what Malick intended, this is what I think about when I'm watching TTRL. I watch it several times a year, it is one of my favourite movies.

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Another interpretation is That all we see is that Sprout and no human beings at all, in a way nature is speaking to us: Little Things look at You, Your two civilizations emerged separately and through evolution in Ideas and Technology to create Ships that can cross the Ocean, and airplanes that can conquer Air, and all that evolution, and all your best efforts brought you here, so you can slaughter each other on this Island, How Foolish a Species You are, when you have succeeded in Killing Yourself off, this Island will still be here, as will the Sky and the Ocean, as it will remain till the memory of the Human race is just a long forgotten dream.
The point is that when a Film is made by someone truly gifted it affects people strongly in new different ways- but of course there are always movies like Avengers and the Hobbit to awaken your consciousness and expand your mind.


-whoever is in search of knowledge let him fish for it where it dwells

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Terrence Malick is a genius. Great film.

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