Great war Movie, Good piece of Filmwork

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2002)

I really dont understand what is wrong with some people. They claim to hate this movie only for the reason (in my honest opinion) of trying to be some sort of non-conformer. Like "Im this socially different guy/girl, so Im not gonna like this movie and recommend some other movie that nobodies heard of in order to try and be Mr. Originality. (when in actuality their movie probably sucks)." To these people; PLEASE GROW UP!
Anyway, back to the actual movie. This was one of Spielberg's many great movies. This film was an excellent war movie. It served its purpose immensely; to show the viewers the inhumanity and pointlessness of war. Im really disappointed it didnt win best picture and that SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE crap did.
Many people watch this movie and say "wow the first 30 minutes showed me what war was really like!" While this was true, these people ignore many of the other small aspects of the film that help to bring out this theme of wars destructiveness and dehumanization.
Some of these aspects are; 1.Pvt. Jackson saying a prayer every time he is about to shoot someone...2.Caparzo's letter that has to keep getting rewritten because it kept getting blood on it, first Caparzo's, then Wade's, and then Captain Miller's...3.the squad laughing away as they dig through a mountain of dog tags, not realizing that the dead airborne soldier's buddies are staring them down...4.Capt. Miller's tendency to keep zoning out in the midst of battle. He keeps going deaf for a time and in these scenes he sees all the death going on around him and how pointless it is...5.Capt. Miller's shaking hand, showing how scared he is, and how he wants his gardening gloves in his hand, not a gun...6.Capt. Miller saying how he doesn't give a damn about Ryan and then changing his mind once he actually meets the young man and trades stories with him about home...7.Copl. Upham starts out as a dorky, nerdish kid, strict on the so-called "rules" and then at the end works up his courage and executes Steamboat Willie realizing that this is what war is really like and not relying on an Emerson quote to try and get him through things...
There is a lot more examples of this, but I think you can get the message. This movie really shows the viewer about what war is really like and how bad it is. Not just by showing an army storming a beach and getting blown to bits, but also by concentrating on a few individual soldiers and showing how the war is affecting them. It was truly one of the best movies ever made and really accomplished its purpose well.