Shutting up private Ryan (Cinematheque)

Rating: 1/10 (4 April 2012)

Among all Spielberg's movies that I saw at the festival, this is the only one when I felt nothing leaving out except being disappointed and angry. Worst, I felt like this as soon as the first scene. Seeing this old man walking alone with his wife and family trotting behind was like a slap at my face. At this old age and having survived the war, it was extremely selfish for him to act like this. Having watched buddies killed and thus never experienced their family life, it was like he haven't learn anything of this trauma, for him or for them.
Next, we are thrown at D-Day. It's the more interesting part of the movie: the value of any single soldier's life is dramatically visualized: those poor guys who got killed as soon as they opened the door of their boats are the true noble and courageous ones. They were sent to slaughter but they stick to their orders. For that matter, during WWI, a relative of my grand mother died the same way: In spite of being terribly myopic, he was among the first to be sent at the front and as it's above all rabbles, he lost his glasses and was killed immediately. Personally, I would never have behaved like them because I would have gone awol as much to not be killed as to not kill. At this moment, Spielberg's takes you in the guts and he may be the first director to show how bloody and stupid the war is.
But as his trademark and sensibility lead him to find hope in this complete darkness, the story becomes a rescue mission. It could have been moving but the characters of this platoon is rather a band of capricious and lunatic soldiers: one wants to hang on with a child, the other left a German alive, the one that killed them later and finally, we met again with Mr. Ego who doesn't want to leave because he has a bridge to defend. Sure, as they stay there, they got all killed. Well, it was too much for me: I don't understand how Spielberg wanted the audience to relate with such stupidity . A life later, this private Ryan remains totally shameful as he rejects his family and I really wonder if he should have been left behind instead.
Pairing: "1941" a good laugh at WWII but not for the same reasons.