Very, very sad film

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2006)

I have seen many World War II films, many of them very well written and acted out, but few measure up to the class of Saving Private Ryan. The film's gore, language, among other vulgarities are extremely well represented, but it is the end that got me.
During the final scenes of the movie, when Hanks and his men have fought a hard and difficult battle, Hanks' character John Miller has been mortally wounded and dies in the arms of one of his soldiers; incidentally, the man he and his squad rescued, James Ryan. Ryan returns to the grave of his superior officer years later, salutes, and the legacy of a heroic soldier remains, though he has been dead for decades. A film that made me weep like never before. A nine out of 10 in my book.