ABSTRACT
In my essay, I unpack the theological aesthetics of The Thin Red Line and analyze its implications for the central dilemma of the film: the possibility of meaning amid the absurdity and brutality of war. I argue that a subtle aesthetic theodicy underlies the film-a theodicy that does not seek to solve the problem of evil, but rather hints at the transcendent dimensions of reality, which points to “another world” that lies within and beyond the barbarity of war and opens theological possibilities for perceiving light in the darkness.5 Through the characters of Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) and Sergeant Welsh (Sean Penn), the film wrestles with the problem of evil and offers two ways of seeing the world: nihilistic materialism (embodied by Welsh) versus
aesthetic transcendentalism (embodied by Witt).6 While the film leaves the choice between these two alternatives to the audience, the film, with its stunning visual beauty, sense of comradery, and depictions of valor, offers a theological aesthetics that functions as a theodicy.7
