Wednesday, March 26, 2008

All things shining



The following passages were extracted from the script of Terence Malick's 1998 film "The Thin Red Line".

What's this war in the heart of nature ?
Why does nature vie with itself?.
The land contend with the sea?
Is there an avenging power in nature?
Not one power, but two?
I remember my mother when she was dying.
Looked all shrunk up and gray.
l asked her if she was afraid.
She just shook her head.
I was afraid to touch the death I seen in her.
I heard people talk about immortality, but I ain't seen it.
I wondered how it'd be when I died.
What it'd be like to know that this breath now was the last one you was ever gonna draw.
I just hope I can meet it the same way she did.
With the same... calm.
Cos that's where it's hidden - the immortality I hadn't seen…

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Who are you to live in all these many forms?
Your death that captures all.
You, too, are the source of all that's gonna be born.
Your glory. Mercy. Peace. Truth.
You give calm a spirit, understanding,courage.
The contented heart.
- Get a medic here!
Maybe all men got one big soul who everybody's a part of.
All faces of the same man. One big self.
Everyone looking for salvation by himself.
Each like a coal drawn from the fire…
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We.
We together.
One being.
Now together like water, till l can't tell you from me.
l drink you. Now.
Now. You're my light. My guide…
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This great evil. Where's it come from?
How'd it steal into the world?
What seed, what root did it grow from?
Who's doing this?
Who's killing us? Robbing us of life and light.
Mocking us with the sight of what we might have known.
Does our ruin benefit the Earth?
Does it help the grass to grow or the sun to shine?
Is this darkness in you, too?
Have you passed through this night?...
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Each standing in the other's light.
How did we lose the good that was given us?
Let it slip away? Scatter it careless?
What's keeping us from reaching out?
Touching the glory?...
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America.
Where's your spark now?...
Everything a lie…
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Everything you hear and see…
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You're in a box.
A moving box…
This war is not gonna be over by next Christmas.
It's gonna be a long time before we get home...
They want you dead.
Or in their lie.
Only one thing a man can do.
Find something that's his.
Make an island for himself.
lf I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack.
A glance from your eyes, and my life will be yours.
Somethin' I can come back to. Some kind of foundation.
I mean, I don't know what, you know, what your plans are, but... I'm determined now.
I've been through the thick and thin of it.
You know, I may be young, but I've lived plenty of life.
I'm ready to start living it good.
You know, my daddy always told me it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.
You know, cos life ain't supposed to be that hard when you're young.
WeII, I figure after this the worst is gonna be gone.
It's time for things to get better. That's what I want.
That's what's gonna happen.
I'm getting older now.
By no means old, but older.
Where is it that we were together?
Who were you that I lived with?
Walked with?
The brother.
The friend.
Darkness from light.
Strife from love.
Are they the workings of one mind?
The features of the same face?
Oh, my soul, let me be in you now.
Look out through my eyes.
Look out at the things you made.
All things shining.

1 comment:

  1. And my favorite: "If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack; a glance from your eyes, and my life will be yours."

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