An extreme war movie

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2000)

I had purposely not gone to see RYAN at the theater since I have a difficulty with war depicted at an entertainment venue. But it rolled over me when least expected. After a head-banging day while on a business trip, I thought just dive into a motel and watch TV. I got the last 45 minutes of RYAN instead of Frazier and couldn't turn it off. This is a military boot camp training film as it can and should be with all the chaos, sound, and death given straight up. It turned my stomach as it should anyone else's, whoever has one. This is how war must be presented on screen to convince others of its total destructiveness before decision-makers decide to enter it and before hero-wanna-be's go too rah rah by joining it. The film is not entertainment, it is a fleeting glimpse so intense but capable of leaving a necessary imprint. It is a vision of death shy of its totality but demanding of your attention. It misses one point from the battlefield - the pervasive smell of death that never leaves your brain.