A war movie which in fact is poetry

Rating: 10/10 (10 August 2006)

I usually watch and give credit to European movies and usually hate the Hollywood production. And I usually see a political statement in "Schindlers list" which is commonly quoted as "his best movie" and "the best movie about holocaust".
However... after seeing S.P.R. I must agree that this is, if probably not the "best movie ever made", the most "revolutionary war movie of all time".
The movie structure is like a poem. It shakes you in the beginning, it calms you in the middle and it destroys you in the end verses.
First of all... the first battle on Omaha beach... the moving camera... the embed-ed reporter like camera... following the soldiers to the beach... the explosions, arms, legs torn apart, the fear on soldiers faces... the numbness... the on-and-off going sound after the bombs go off... MAN! After seeing it for the first time... I went out of the movie theater... and went to see it again for the second time! There has never been a movie that glued me to the chair... and made me stare for 25 minutes in silence! Well, that was a... romantic experience and I give Spielberg credit for that.
The middle of the movie... is exactly the opposite of the first. It's not loud and disturbing... but silent and green. I must say it's the greenest grass I have seen in a war movie... the soldiers walk and walk and speak about stupid stuff... like they never went thru hell in the landing at Omaha beach. When I watched this middle section I almost felt good, but it felt very unnatural... and that's why after the assault on the MG-42 nest... I felt shaken again. The dying red cross soldier shot in the stomach... dying... in the arms of comrades... UFFF. Some disturbing images.
And of course... the last part... the total destruction, the panzer's rolling thru the streets, the sniper... the self-made sticky bombs... the ruble of houses, the fights one on one... wow. Some serious sequences...
I admired the photography, the clean pictures, however it is the moving camera that makes this movie revolutionary... I think no director is able to make again a credible war movie without the Spielberg's moving camera... and that's why I consider him a GENIUS. I haven't seen a war movie with static cameras after S.P.R came out.
I must say that this movie can be judged in many ways... you can always see a "shallow characterization" or even a demagogic view on the Jew-German combat in the house... of course. However... if I exclude my political view of this movie I would say that this is probably one of the best I have ever seen.
Only the Russian movie "Come and See" (orig. Idi i Smotri) made even a harder impact on my view on what war is. And that's why I consider Saving Private Ryan if not the best, then second best war movie ever made.