Best War Movie Ever

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2001)

I don't know what the heck the folks at the Oscars were thinking. I still can't believe that Shakespeare in Love got Best Picture at the Oscars in 1998. Shakespeare in Love is a good movie, but nowhere near as powerful and thought-provoking as Saving Private Ryan. The fact that this movie didn't win Best Picture is a crime.
I have seen War Movies such as Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Thin Red Line, and none of these movies reaches quite reaches the standard established by Saving Private Ryan (though they are all excellent movies in their own right). The acting, dialogue, and action is top notch. Though some of the movies do come close ,but Saving Private Ryan presents the most disturbing images I have ever seen in a movie of this genre.
A friend of mine complains that Speilburg is too cheesy in how he show the American Flag at the end of the movie. There is nothing cheesy about that at all. The flag represents among other things, the people who fought and died in all wars past and present. I hardly call that cheese. He also claims that because it is more uplifting than Full Metal Jacket, that it does not convey to full lengths the reality of war. I agree that it is more uplifting than Full Metal Jacket (though war movies in general are anything, but uplifting), the setting and mood of the war reflect each individual film. Vietnam was the most unpopular war in American History. It had very little support by the masses and the outcome was horrendous for America. The fact that we lost the war at the cost of thousands of lives gave this war a more naturalistic outlook than movies based upon World War 2. In that the war the good guys won as America had a more moral cause to defeat the Axis powers and free the imprisoned and avenge the victims of the Nazi's genocidal regime. This mostly explains why Saving Private Ryan was not as naturalistic as movies that took place in Viet-Nam such as Full Metal Jacket and Platoon.
If there was one movie I would ask anyone to see it would be this movie. Saving Private Ryan fulfills masterfully the mood and tragedies of war, and the price of American sacrifice. A masterpiece.