Religion and Film 2021

  Released in 1998, the film The Thin Red Line depicts soldiers fighting a battle on the Guadalcanal Island. Throughout the film, there are mass causalities, and many soldiers experience and witness death occur for the first time. One of the captains, Private Robert Witt, is afraid of death and greatly dislikes it. However, throughout the film, Witt experiences a change in heart. Witt’s change in heart due to overcoming the fear of death is similar to Arjuna’s path and the sublime. One of the warriors that serves under the Krishna, the Bhagavad Gita god, Arjuna is accused of hiding in fear when asked to participate in battle. Krishna orders Arjuna to complete his duty, similar to how Witt is asked to complete his duties as a Private and order his men to fight. Through his ability to overcome his fears, he encounters the sublime. Additionally, throughout the film, the filmmaker uses nature and war symbolically through the use of the scenery as aspects of the battle. As a part of the...

  The film Thin Red Line follows American soldiers who are fighting the Japanese and trying to take back the Guadalcanal. The American camp was starting to get very restless and uncertain of their future in this grueling war. The American soldiers were afraid of death and I believe this is because they felt they weren't right with God and they needed time after the war to get right. The film follows Private Witt, an uncertain soldier who is particularly afraid of dying in the war. Private Witt will constantly have flashbacks of watching his mother die and because of this he is very hesitant is engage in the ongoing battle. As the film progresses and Witt is exposed to his soldiers suffering injuries and dying; this leads to a realization or transcendence that he shouldn't fear death anymore. Witt was able to realize that there is life after death and man can be immortalized after they are gone. Once Witt had this realization, the smile he gave when he saw other dead people, the...

  The Thin Red Line, which I would describe as several hours of watching men be brutally murdered, was intentionally made so disturbing so as to encourage viewers to reflect on the gift of life. One of my initial reactions was "I'd be the worst soldier ever, I'd just hide in the grass the entire time" and "I'm so glad women aren't included in the draft". My gratitude for never having to go to war is probably fairly universal within viewers (as the director intended). By emphasizing human distaste for war through the film's graphic depictions of death, the director leads his viewers to the question of "what is worth the sacrifice of human life?" For Krishna and the Colonel, duty is the price of life.   The Thin Red Line was very difficult to watch, as I'm not normally someone who puts up with any type of blood and guts. I think the gore was intended to convey the sublime nature of war and life. By reminding viewers of how terrible th...

  Tyler Baldwin- Thin Red Line This movie was the second war movie the class has seen, and I think I see more of the holy in Apocalypse Now than I do in Thin Red Line. In Thin Red Line, we are confronted with images of peaceful nature alongside the horrors of war. This juxtaposition is jarring upon first inspection, but is not wholly so opposed as the first glance. The sublime shows through in this movie upon second inspection, realizing the awe the soldiers feel in both the violence of battle and the beauty of nature. The main protagonist is also confronted with something that inspires the sublime, which does not always have to be completely a positive experience, like how people who are struck with fear when experiencing a holy encounter. The main character, Witt, is confronted with his own mortality multiple times throughout the movie, something he fears and is awesome to him. This struggle on these beautiful hills is poetic and hard to watch as we watch the characters go throug...

The Thin Red Line shows the American point of view while fighting the Japanese to take back the Guadalcanal. The Americans started off with low morale and were afraid of death. Private Witt was especially scared of death, due to his flashbacks of watching his mother die. However, throughout the movie, we see he has transcended. In the beginning, we see how he was scared when he saw someone die but in the end, the smile, the look in his face showed how his perspective on death had changed. Instead of going AWOL again, Witt pushed forward and stepped up because he came to the realization of the immortality man has, even after physical death.  It was when Witt transcended, that it was the turning point for the Americans to push forward and gain control. The film constantly shows nature and war, even in the same frame. The whole movie shows war, with men firing guns and dying. In the middle of all of this war, the camera focuses briefly on the animal life in this environment, such as b...

 The film, Thin Red Line,  was a very unique film in the fact that they used nature so effectively throughout the film. Whenever a scene of trench warfare, it was very interesting to see the way nature was portrayed. The places that the American soldiers stayed were dirty and did not have a lot of color in their trench. I think this is a symbol of the negative morale that was displayed by the soldiers. When the American soldiers were going over to attack the opponents, they were slowly crawling through the long grass that was blowing in the wind. This is a symbol of the quiet and slow movement that the Americans were using. This also helps to represent the stillness of the holy and how silence can be found throughout the silence. The transcendent reality is shown when one of the soldiers came to peace with death. You can see the way that he transitions from fear of death to peace with death. Watching this character development was very interesting as well as seeing the differe...

     In the film Thin Red Line , we follow the stories of many soldiers fighting on the island of Guadalcanal to try and take it back from the Japanese. As with any war film this movie features a lot of blood, gore, and death. With this though we are confronted with questions about life and death, and state of being. Throughout much of the film the viewer often sees heavy battle scenes with gunfire and explosions, and then they are presented with a clip of an animal that may be caught in the middle of the battlefield. This could symbolize multiple things. These animals could represent death and the idea of reincarnation. Through this it would be showing a circle of life, so to speak, by seeing a result of these dying soldiers. In another sense, this could be showing the state of existence that these animals live in, as opposed to the war-hungry, blood-thirsty men around them. It could be showing the idea that in nature, we are not violent beings, but this idea of war and ...