Realistic depiction of wartime battle (Major spoilers ahead)

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2005)

Steven Spielberg made his second historical visit to the time of World War II (following up from his acclaimed Schindler's List) with this tale of a group of American soldiers, assigned to find Private Ryan, the sole survivor of a family of brothers killed in the war.
The group assigned to find him are world-weary Captain Miller (Tom Hanks); his right-hand man Sergeant Hovarth (Tom Sizemore); sniper Private Jackson (Barry Pepper); wise-guy Jew Mellish (Adam Goldberg) and translater Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies), a bookish sort who's never been in battle...
This ensemble is played by a gallery of seasoned natural actors. Tom Hanks gives probably his most subtle performance as the besieged Miller, capturing the dizzy tiredness of a man who's sick of fighting. Sizemore is fine as Horvarth and Pepper, Goldberg and Davies are good in their various roles, giving their stock characters a distinctiveness and humanity. Matt Damon is given the pivotal role of Private Ryan, and plays him in much the same way as he played Will Hunting: a petulant, obnoxious moron who does not engender much sympathy.
The story, especially with reference to recent world events, feels like a US propaganda tool. Watching it, especially if you're uninformed of history, you'd think the Americans were the only ones fighting the Nazis. Other Allied Groups (the British, the French and the Russians) are never seen or referred to any way.
Where the film really succeeds is in its portrayal of wartime battle, surely the most realistic depiction committed to film. The film is shot in harsh realistic tones, with a lot of grey and brown. The grime, blood and gore of combat is far from overlooked.
The opening attack on Omaha Beach is excellent, and you can feel the frantic, fearful adrenaline of the soldiers as they rush into the line of fire and are randomly picked off one-by-one. The Germans who surrender in eventual defeat are randomly shot dead. The concluding battle to defend the bridge is even better as the characters we've come to know over two hours are decimated or worse than that changed by their ordeals. However it is not the guns and bomb battles that really convey the wasteful nature of war. It is the hand-to-hand combat scene Mellish has with a German soldier while Upham cowers on stairs. The German gets the upper hand and slowly forces Mellish's knife into his stomach, gently rocking him to sleep as he does so. This is what it ultimately boils down to: the savage nature of fighting, and possessing (or losing) the will to remain on your feet and stay alive. It is this reality, encapsulated in that scene, that the film captures so very well.
It will not stand up as a historical document (few war movies do) but in bringing the realities of wartime battle home to a mass audience, "Saving Private Ryan" is a must-see.