Jessie Gambardella - Thin Red Line and Apocalypse Now

Then we watched The Thin Red Line all I could think about how it reminded me of Apocalypse Now which was also a war film told in an unrealistic artsy way. Apocalypse now was more visually unrealistic with the colorful hazes but The Thin Red Line was unrealistic in how it was told. I wonder if people do have such deeps thoughts as Witt and other characters did during war. It is interesting how Thin Red Line begins with an AWOL character, Witt, and Apocalypse Now ends with a character going AWOL, Lance. The two men’s choices of place are completely different and can be compared and contrasted with Heaven and Hell. Witt was forced to leave his “heaven” while Lance is taken out of a kind of “hell.” In Witt’s world he did not loose some of his sense I believe but gained a new look on life. I think he saw how a life simple can be beautiful and he lived at peace with these tribal people. Lance on the other hand had his mind twisted and was surrounded by death and decay. Witt’s world was thriving with life and wildlife all around but Lance’s was the opposite.