"Saving Private Ryan" Directed by Steven Spielberg **** (four stars)
War is Hell
There is an eerie surrealism as we descend from the gloomy skies over Omaha beach. The redundant waves mercilessly beat upon the transport boats carrying the first wave of American soldiers, each silently staring at their inevitable destiny. Some begin to vomit, a combination of seasickness and fear that can only mean one thing, war. The date is June 6, 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, the single most important battle of the last great war. And as the US LCVP boats finally begin to drop their doors to let the soldiers pour out onto the beach, a cold shock comes over you. You are no longer watching a war film. You have been transported onto those boats, and all the horrors of war that you have only read about suddenly become reality. What ensues is the most ferocious and horrific sequences in all of film history. Bullets rip through the air with wanton lust, tearing apart the first three lines of troops attempting to make it to shore. The camera is jolted as if to suggest that there is nothing anyone can do to stop this madness. German 75mm machine cannons relentlessly bombard the shoreline as rounds tear through the backs of helmets and blow off limbs. This is not Hollywood's glamorization of death, this is death in its truest form. Bodies drop by the hundreds, completely limp upon impact from the bullets. Soldiers lie screaming on the sand with only their hands keeping their insides from falling out. Medics begin treating the wounded and before long, become the wounded. The shore is soaked red in blood, yet the Americans continue on. And for nearly half an hour this onslaught carries forth, until finally, the beach is taken.
For Spielberg, the point is simple: War is Hell. There's no glory on the battlefield. Heroes die. Good men die. What we read in our history books means nothing. They merely consist of statistics of death tolls and fancy plans laid out by four star Generals. Saving Private Ryan is war seen through the eyes of a soldier, and what better choice to do that than with a man whose demeanor alone elicits courage and honor. Tom Hanks plays platoon captain John Miller who, after courageously leading his troops through the hell of D-Day, is sent on a mission to find and bring home private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon). The reason: Ryan, who was dropped behind enemy lines in France as part of the Airborne infantry attack, is the only surviving brother of four enlisted in the war (his mother will be receiving all three telegrams at once), and the chief of Staff of the US military is determined to "get him the hell out of there." So Miller assembles his best men to help him traverse the French countryside in search for the fourth Ryan. His platoon includes stubborn Brooklynite private Reiben (Edward Burns), the strong-willed Sgt. Horvath (Tom Sizemore), shell-shocked translator Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies), wisecracking Jewish-American private Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi) and sharp-shooting private Caparzo (Vin Diesel).
As the men march on, we begin to see the true destruction of war-torn France. Towns are filled with the rubble of smashed buildings, and scattered gunfire snaps through the deserted streets. Along the way we slowly get an intimate glimpse of each of the characters, and we become closer and closer to the platoon. When one of them dies, we feel as if we have lost a close friend. But despite the tragedies there's always a feeling that things are still OK because of Captain Miller's presence. Hanks' performance is brilliant. He is the quintessential every man's hero, exuding both fatherly poise and human vulnerability, and is the binding force behind Spielberg's film. When the epic final battle concludes, Hanks and Spielberg leave us with a hauntingly powerful admonition of the truth of war. There is no happy ending. We are left only with a simple reminder that in war, good men die so that good men may carry on the flame. In what is no doubt the greatest war film ever made, Spielberg has shown us that even in the darkest moments of humanity, there is still hope.
-Stephen Wong
Visit the Entertainment Insiders at: http://einsiders.home.mindspring.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews