One for the Ages

Rating: 10/10 (10 March 2018)

In every time period and almost every part of the globe, there has been war. Many bloody wars have occurred in our world's history, but none of them can match the magnitude of World War II. There were eighty million casualties as a result of the war, which includes deaths from war-related disease and famine. One of the war's biggest turning points occurred on June 6, 1944 when over 160,000 Allied forces invaded France, which was heavily occupied by Germany at the time. The movie called Saving Private Ryan accurately depicts this massive invasion. This movie is a must-watch because of how realistic, intense, and moving it is from beginning to end. Even though this movie was spectacular, there were some critics that wrongly criticized the film.
Watching Saving Private Ryan is a once in a lifetime experience. This movie is considered to be not only the best war movie ever, but it is one of the best movies, period. In the 71st Academy Awards, they won five of the eleven awards they were nominated for. The five awards were: best director, best cinematography, best sound mixing, best film editing, and best sound effects editing. Saving Private Ryan is a World War II movie that re-creates the infamous D-Day invasion and the following push into France in the summer of 1944. The movie revolves around a squadron from the 2nd Ranger Battalion led by Captain Miller (Tom Hanks), and their mission is to find Private First Class James Ryan (Matt Damon) to have him sent back home since all three of his brothers had died in the massive invasion. This kind of rescue mission was common in World War II. A soldier who lost all of their siblings in combat was forced to go back home by the military for the sake of the soldier and his family. The squadron encounters heavy resistance throughout the movie before they finally find Private First Class Ryan toward the end of the movie.
Saving Private Ryan is a must-watch because of how realistic and thrilling it is in both the action and non-action scenes. Everything that happens in this movie is based on true events from World War II, and they are very accurately presented in the movie. The action scenes in the movie are very intense and have the audience on the edge of their seats. In fact, this movie was so real and intense that it made war veterans walk out of the theater due to having posttraumatic stress disorder. The D-Day scene in the very beginning of the movie is the most notable of them all since it is considered by many to be one of the greatest movie scenes ever. German machine guns were blazing, explosions were everywhere, and casualties were occurring left and right. This intense, fast-paced, realistic scene was one of many in the movie. The second component of this movie that makes it a must-watch is the non-action scenes. War movies that have great non-action scenes are a cut above other war movies, and this is the case in Saving Private Ryan. Two of the best scenes in this movie were the scenes in the very beginning and end of the movie. In the beginning, Private Ryan visits a beautiful cemetery that holds thousands of soldiers who passed away fighting to protect their country, one of which was Captain Miller. And in the end, he makes a moving speech and salute to Captain Miller that leaves every viewer in tears. These two scenes are just two of the many good non-action scenes in the movie. There has been no other movie that I have seen that is more real and moving than Saving Private Ryan.
Critics have made the claim that the action scenes in Saving Private Ryan make the German soldier seem inferior and praise the American soldier, and examples from the movie have been provided to back up that claim. However, this is simply not true. The Germans were not acting stupid without any strategy during the ambush scene some critics described. The critics made it seem like the Germans were stupid for pushing their vehicles and troops through the streets of the town, but this was a proper tactic. The best way to clear a town is to send as many reinforcements as possible straight through to overwhelm any possible resistance. The movie's critics were also outspoken on how the movie depicted the German tank crew to be inept. In all fairness, this was an ambush against them and not a planned attack during a battle. The element of surprise is huge in combat, and unfortunately for the Germans, this element was not in their favor. Saving Private Ryan's critics made a claim that was irrational and not supported with logical reasoning.