And thanks for the kind words about my own blog. I’ve been stumbling across some great stuff lately as I’ve kind of hopped through the blogrolls of some movie sites I like (basically all of these sites have similar listings to yours so I’ve been going between them) and I really like a lot of them, yours included.

TRL is indeed poetry. It touches on the enemy’s point of view in a more elegant way, and also takes a stunning look at not only the battle – but the field on which the battle is being fought.

The only thing that might hold it back a tad, is that it’s a bit more existentialist than most war films. Not that that’s a bad thing – far from it, just that it isn’t always what one expects when they sit down to watch a war movie. I do love it, RYAN speaks to me a tad clearer, but they’re both equally amazing.

Now with both of them getting released in the same year, you can see how LINE and RYAN competing against one another could result in SHAKESPEARE sneaking in.

By comparison, The Thin Red Line somehow managed to make poetry into a semi-realistic depiction of war. Granted, I would suspect that your average soldier does not muse over existentialist concerns, but I thought it was the most honest portrayal of WWII soldiers as actual, flesh-and-blood humans with fears. Compare the overall mission of SPR, wherein a group of men are essentially sent to their deaths just to rescue one person, and any grumblings over how absurd this is are quashed with lines about doing our duty (i.e. the necessity of following orders), to TRL. In that film, when a colonel orders his men into a deathtrap, a subordinate refuses to send the men. He will not follow an order that will lead to a slaughter and assured defeat. The Thin Red Line is poetry, but in this respect it has a refreshingly honest, Fulleresque approach (plus, the battle scenes are as striking as SPR, albeit for entirely different reasons).

As for Oscar, there are two reasons (and only two) that it missed Best Picture. Neither of the two have anything to do with Rosie’s argument.

The first is that RYAN had the misfortune of competing with THE THIN RED LINE. TRL is a very different, but also very powerful war film. It’s Best Pic nomination stole more than a few votes from SPR and allowed LOVE a window of opportunity. Had TRL not been nominated, RYAN likely wins.

The second – and less obvious – reason is Miramax. Miramax campaigned hard for LOVE. This was at the apex of The Weinsteins’ power and influence over Hollywood, and they spared no expense when it came to getting people to consider LOVE, and indeed in denouncing RYAN. More than any other Best Picture, LOVE is widely seen as the award Miramax bought.

its one of those films i dont think i really love – its not in my list of alltime favourites or anything – but whenever i watch it im in floods of tears the whole way through. spielberg is a master manipulator, and although he often tugs on the heartstrings in a bit of an obvious way, im always ready to give him my uh, heartstrings. or something. you get the idea.
Saving Private Ryan.. is it as good a war movie as Operation Dumbo Drop? You know what, yes, it probably is.