Saving Private Ryan (1998)

When Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first home movie was a backyard war film. When he toured Europe with Duel in his 20s, he saw old men crumble in front of headstones at Omaha Beach. That image became the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of a mission following the D-day invasion that many have called the most realistic--and maybe the best--war film ever. With 1998 production standards, Spielberg has been able to create a stunning, unparalleled view of war as hell. We are at Omaha Beach as troops are slaughtered by Germans yet overcome the almost insurmountable odds.

A stalwart Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, a soldier's soldier, who takes a small band of troops behind enemy lines to retrieve a private whose three brothers have recently been killed in action. It's a public relations move for the Army, but it has historical precedent dating back to the Civil War. Some critics of the film have labeled the central characters stereotypes. If that is so, this movie gives stereotypes a good name: Tom Sizemore as the deft sergeant, Edward Burns as the hotheaded Private Reiben, Barry Pepper as the religious sniper, Adam Goldberg as the lone Jew, Vin Diesel as the oversize Private Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi as the soulful medic, and Jeremy Davies, who as a meek corporal gives the film its most memorable performance.

The movie is as heavy and realistic as Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's List, but it's more kinetic. Spielberg and his ace technicians (the film won five Oscars: editing (Michael Kahn), cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), sound, sound effects, and directing) deliver battle sequences that wash over the eyes and hit the gut. The violence is extreme but never gratuitous. The final battle, a dizzying display of gusto, empathy, and chaos, leads to a profound repose. Saving Private Ryan touches us deeper than Schindler because it succinctly links the past with how we should feel today. It's the film Spielberg was destined to make. --Doug Thomas Amazon.com essential video

A flawed gem

First off, everything you may have heard about the opening Normandy sequence is true: this is quite simply the most amazing battle re-creation footage you're ever likely to see. Definitely not for the squeamish, it paints its horrifying portrait without ever allowing the viewer to glory in any kind of "excitement" (which most battle simulations end up doing on some level, even the well-meaning ones). Spielberg uses every ounce of his talent and ingenuity to show combat the way it should be shown: as pure Hell, a nightmare that it is impossible to waken from. As for the rest of the movie which follows this opening sequence. . . well, I'm not sure. The first time I saw it, I was caught up from the beginning and the rest of the film seemed to hold me equally well. But upon further viewings, the flimsiness and basic illogic of the central plot become far more noticeable. I don't know, it's a toss-up. There are still several compelling scenes here, and Tom Hanks gives the performance of his career (his "dramatic" career anyway - I'm one who still believes there's much to be said for Tom's earlier work in comedy) but there just seems to be an overall "falseness" in the structure that undercuts some of the film's power. I wish a better framing story could have been found. But by all means see this movie. Warts and all, it's the kind that only a truly great director could make - and the opening alone is worth the cost. Just don't expect a masterpiece; think of it more as a flawed gem. September 23, 2008

Tell Me I'm A Good Man

All war movies capture a piece of the brutality that is war but only a very few bring forth the full carnage that war is. In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, director Steven Spielberg drags the viewer out of his seat and throws him into the sound and fury of modern war. Critics have noted that with the opening scene of GIs getting machine gunned by Wehrmacht troopers on Omaha Beach on D-Day, Spielberg begins a three hour howl of pain that affects the soul as much as it does the body. It is impossible to feel nothing even for the Germans who die by the hundreds.

Tom Hanks is Captain Miller who has the thankless task of bringing home Private Ryan whose three other brothers have died in battle. The question of the morality to do this while others are equally deserving a ticket home is announced by Ryan (Matt Damon) himself who refuses to leave while his comrades need him. It is this subtext of ethics versus pragmatism that imbues the film with the multi-layers of interpretation that result in equally multi-viewings. There are numerous scenes in which a soldier will pause while directly involved in a life and death struggle to detach himself from the fray to consider some basic concepts that mark him as human. Jeremy Davies plays a GI interpreter who must face the morality of what it means to use his linguistic skills as simply one more element for killing the enemy. Nearly everyone in Capt. Miller's squad also wonders whether their lives are collectively worth the one whose three brothers were killed. What makes this insane struggle to quantify the unquantifiable work is the realization that the ability to judge the worth of such a sacrifice cannot be realized until much later when the now elderly Private Ryan pauses in front of the grave of Capt. Miller to pass judgment on an event that for everyone save him is only of historical interest. To know that he is one who has tried his best to live the Good Life somehow lets him sleep at night. We in the audience can share this most intimate of moments. September 8, 2008

Great Package

Awesome movie, even better with this edition. If you don't have a copy of this film, definitely get it. If you have a copy of the film, but you enjoy WWII history, etc. get it. Enjoy. August 31, 2008

Good film but no masterpiece

The first scenes of "Saving Private Ryan" are spectacular. You are with the landing force as it hits the beach at Normandy. Shells are exploding, landing craft are blowing up and machine gun bullets are pinging off of metal. Craft bow hatches are let down only to let machine gun bullets enter and wipe out the would-be invaders. Still other soldiers, loaded down with ammo and weapons, jump out into deep water to sink and drown on the spot.

Survivors scramble to the beach where they are shot down in the scores. Eventually, they organize, push through with Bangalor mines and are able to destroy points of German resistance. Germans who surrender are mown down without mercy. [Hey, What about the Geneva Convention?]. After this exciting segment, the movie settles down to a pretty average World War II movie. We win most of the fights.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico August 24, 2008

D-pressing

I know a lot of people consider this some kind of classic, but I find it to be one of the most depressing films I've ever watched. I'll take "To Hell and Back," "The Big Red One," or "Sands of Iwo Jima," to name a few, over this film anyday.

I know "War is Hell," and a terrible thing and all, but I don't need those facts driven home quite this forcibly.

This movie is a bummer to watch and I'll never watch it again (with all due respect to Tom Hanks, a great actor)!

August 18, 2008

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