The secrets of The Red Line by Terrence Malick

25 years ago, American Terrence Malick came out of retirement to create a captivating and mystical war film. Return to Guadalcanal.

At Christmas 1998 took place the event release of The Red line in the United States, in a handful of cinemas across the country. The few spectators who had made the trip on D-day were won over, then the film was offered in Europe (in France on January 1999) before finally obtaining a release. “wide release” in his home country on February 25.

To celebrate this anniversary, we are looking into its manufacturing secrets. The Red Line is currently visible on VOD, notably on Première Max.

Terrence Malick, the Arlesian

20 years separate Terrence Malick’s second feature film, The harvests of heaven (1978) of this Red line (1998). 20 years, an abyss! What happened ? The mystery remains, perpetuating a particular aura around a man who has always refused interviews and photos. When he came to the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 to present The Tree of Life who will win the Palme d’Or, photographers were asked not to immortalize his presence. Malick, who attended the great universities of Harvard and Oxford where he studied brilliant philosophy, shot his first feature film The wild ride in 1973. He continued with The harvests of heaven, before a long break. From, The Red lineMalick remained very active and made eight feature films.

News about Terrence Malick’s next film

The art of War

The Red line is based on a James Jones novel. This former soldier of the Second World War has seen several of his novels adapted: As long as there will be men by Fred Zinnemann in 1953 and Like a torrent by Vincente Minnelli in 1958. The novel The Red line, recounts the extreme violence of the Pacific War and how American soldiers were able, under fire, to transform into true savages. A text that Malick reappropriates to develop his own mystique as a filmmaker: floating and omniscient camera, omnipresent voice-over, purity of light… Malick films here an Eden soiled by war, an ecosystem bruised by human violence… ” In this world, a man is nothing. And there are no other worlds than this one… », explains Sergeant Welsh (Sean Penn)

People at the gate

The cast of the red line brings together: Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, George Clooney, Woody Harrelson and even John Travolta…. One of the main characters is played by Jim Caviezel who will soon be Mel Gibson’s Jesus Christ (The passion of Christ) and more recently a former government agent seeking to dismantle a pedophile ring in the openly Christian Sound of Freedom by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde. The casting of The Red Line attracted a lot of people including Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Deep and Brad Pitt. The latter will be the hero of The Tree of Life. The music by Hans Zimmer shines with its purity and strange sweetness. The Red Line won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

USA. Terrence Malick’s red line. With: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody… Duration: 2h50

Edward Norton was to play the lead role in The Red Mile