Review: Saving Private Ryan
Review by: Joy Wyse
If you like war movies, this is probably the best one that you'll ever see. To say that it starts off with a bang would be putting it mildly. >From the very beginning of the film you are part of it. As the troops are preparing to invade the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6th, you can feel the thoughts going on in the minds of each and every soldier.
As the LCVPs pull onto the sand and drop the ramps, the men become sitting ducks as a barrage of bullets and heavy artillery rake across them. In the audience, you find it difficult to see clearly, or to hear what is being said, much the same as it was for them. You get quick glimpses of carnage and blood, but you [the soldier] are driven by self-preservation. If you would stop to help a buddy, neither of you would survive. It was every man for himself. But, you had to follow orders.
Tom Hanks is the star of the film, but most of the other central roles are played by lesser known [although experienced] actors. This makes it even more believable that they are real army. There are cameos that pop up, such as Harve Presnell, Ted Danson, and Dennis Farina, but that's all they are....cameos.
It's a long movie, but you hardly realize it. I'm one of those people who was living during W.W.II. My husband served in the Navy while he was only in his teens. He was one of four brothers who were each in different theaters of action. Once or twice he happened upon one of them in some unknown country. Unlike Private Ryan, my husband was fortunate enough that he and all of his brothers came home alive, and unharmed.
Even though I was aware of the war and the D-Day invasion, I have never felt it so graphically as I did in this film. The violence that is shown in this movie is, by far, more believable and real that anything you've ever seen before. It just affects you in a way that can't be explained. I dare anyone to watch this and not cry.
They say that our children learn from what they see in movies and on television. Just like Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan is a must-see film. Maybe it could help stop the violence in the world today.
I did notice one blooper in the film. The squad goes from being 8 to 7 to 8 to 7 again. Watch for it. But, it doesn't stop me from giving this an A. It's by far the best film of the year. I want to see it again.
See you at the movies.
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