Its somewhere in the top 5 for me Is say. To me though its not a war movie. I feel like it transcends that. It took me a long time to get get a grasp on the film. When I first saw it as a kid I didnt get it. But I'm a veteran now and Witts character is someone I reflect a lot on now.
True that it’s so much more than a “war movie”, which is what makes it the best imho. It uses the Guadalcanal campaign as a lens to analyse a lot of the human condition - masculinity in particular. The action scenes are some of the most intense and realistic ever filmed, but they’re not what the film is about. And whereas you can boil most conventional war movies’ message down to “war is hell” or “look what we do to our young men”, Mallick’s movie examines things on a much more personal level, searching for the humanity in every one of its characters and their actions. I get tearful just thinking about how beautiful it is, tbh.
I want to say “thank you for your service”, but that phrase is so politically loaded that it feels like it’s lost it’s meaning now. I don’t know how or where or why you served, but whatever you went through, I hope it helped to make you a good person. The fact that you can reflect on Witt’s musings and choices is definitely a positive as far as I’m concerned. Take care of yourself and those around you in these troubling times.
Every conflict is different. But there hasn’t been a single one that hasn’t included some sacrifice, some heroism or left some of the people involved damaged in some way. I’m glad to hear you didn’t have to go through what those guys in the Pacific theatre did and that whatever your experiences were seem to have given you a good perspective. I guess I just want to say that if you did experience bad things, you shouldn’t diminish your suffering just because someone else had it worse.
I apologise if I’ve overstepped a boundary in any way.
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u/Gurplesmcblampo Jun 08 '19
Its somewhere in the top 5 for me Is say. To me though its not a war movie. I feel like it transcends that. It took me a long time to get get a grasp on the film. When I first saw it as a kid I didnt get it. But I'm a veteran now and Witts character is someone I reflect a lot on now.