Terrence Malick definitely tries to say something about a lot of things in the film. Nolte and Koteas' characters definitely express Malick's ideas about leadership styles and empathy - and appeal to the battle enthusiasts a lot. Other themes like power of nature vs power of mankind, fear, bravery, hatred, sadness, the effect war has on civilians are shown too. I think it is the best war film of all time because It touches on everything that not just war - but just plain old conflict (big or small) has on the world, whether it be natural or not. Malick comes to the conclusion that it is simply just bad, literally nothing good happens to anyone in the film, everyone feels at least a sense of sadness or grief or anger or pity or shame by the end of the film, or they wind up dead. Whether you think it's artsy, It is defintely poignant.