Hans Zimmer, trying to avoid war-movie clichés, accompanies the dramatized carnage at Guadalcanal with a weepy and wistful score. Like the Terrence Malick film, the music, with its sad violins and underscored orchestra, invokes a war that is more introspective, a fitting backdrop to the often purple poeticisms in the voice-over narrations. Zimmer provides occasional adaptations to the American folk hymn "Christian Race," but his overall effect is much more otherworldly. Instead of the earthier martial themes associated with warlords or heroes, this is the soundtrack to a melancholy Valhalla, a story seemingly told by battlefield casualties who are already angels. Less predictable is a brief closing track (written by Francesco Lupica) strangely titled "Sit Back & Relax" that sends out a surreal "cosmic beam." --Joseph Lanza (Amazon review)
Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for "Thin Red Line" reminds one of his later work for the movie "Gladiator". At once forboding and ethereal, this soundtrack captures the essence of the island-to-island fighting that characterized the Pacific Theatre of WW2. One never knows what danger lurks behind an innocent palm or in the verdant jungles. In the midst of this are the innocent sounds of Guadacanal's residents singing and the strains of the American folk hymn "Christian Race" that causes one to think of what thoughts the soldiers of both sides might have had about the homes they were so far away from. Hans Zimmer's music creates the mood in the film, and carries it on it's own as a soundtrack. Truly inspired and beautiful.
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