Season curator Dr Adam Laity says:

“That one of the most cinematic and powerful films about humanity’s interconnectivity (or lack thereof) with nature has been made by Terrence Malick is no surprise – it is one of the key themes of the majority of his films, both in terms of narrative and cinematography. Its poignant depiction of war highlights what we have to lose and affects us so much when we see it desecrated and spoilt by war.”

Terrence Malick’s return to cinema after a 20+ year hiatus is a striking and philosophical rumination on war, humanity and nature, and one of the most remarkable war films ever made.

The film follows an American infantry company fighting Japanese forces on the Guadalcanal Island in the South Pacific in 1942. As a camera prowls along the floor of a dense jungle, a voice enquires: “What’s this war at the heart of nature?” So begins an epic portrait of humanity at its most destructive.

Employing multiple voiceovers and contrasting battle scenes with dream-like reveries, this bold, beautiful and at times horrifying film is an exploration of what it means to be human in the natural world from one of the great masters of cinema.

Part of More-Than-Human: Cinematic Landscapes of Otherness in Nature.

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