Greatest War Movie - Despite What the Germans Say

Rating: 10/10 (13 August 2002)

This is a brilliant film. I have never seen a film that gives a better sense of what it is like to actually be involved in combat, in all its shocking and horrifying reality. It also is rare that a World War II film comes along that actually shows American soldiers as real people, who sometimes do things they'd rather not talk about under the intense stress of combat. Take, for example, the American soldiers who shoot the two Germans who are trying to surrender during the D-Day landing. Or Corporal Upham, who is too scared during the final battle to save one of his comrades from being killed. Scenes such as these help lend a humanity to the movie so that, while still rooting for the main group of characters, you realize that sometime, during war, men act in a way that they never would during peace.
Now, as for the issue of the portrayal of the Germans during the movie, first of all, I don't see how some people are complaining that they were portrayed as "stupid". I can't think of a single scene in which the German soldiers are shown to be acting stupidly. Are they shown losing the battle? Yes, they are. But guess what? That's what actually happened! News flash: The Germans lost the war! A film that shows brave German soldiers successfully stopping the Americans and British on the beaches and driving them back into the sea would be nothing but a giant work of fiction, because it never happened. And as for all out German "friends" complaining that Germans are always portrayed as the bad guys and evil in World War II films, I have news for you: Germany was the bad guy. Germany acted in as evil a way as a country can act. Germany tried to conquer an entire continent because it felt it was it's destiny. Germany mercilessly butchered millions of Jews and other "undesirables" because they weren't "pure". If Germans don't like being portrayed as evil during World War II, then maybe they shouldn't have acted evil during World War II.