A specific American story about universal horrors...

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 1999)

I liked this film from top to bottom. I have to disagree with other reviewers (and there have been many) who claim the film is overly patriotic in tone. Have they noticed that the American flag shown at the beginning and end of the film looks washed out, almost bled down? I'm sure this is no accident. I felt that there was a message in that curiously colorless flag. I somehow knew the instant that flag was shown that there were some bad things to come. It said to me that patriotism is a little hollow in light of the fearsome carnage that people are put through in a war. As for the flag being American, well it was an American beach and the choice of the U.S. symbol is entirely appropriate. I would expect the Maple Leaf on Juno, or the Union Jack on Sword or Gold beaches. This movie isn't really about D-day in a grand sense anyway.
I also disagree with those who say the "bookends" (boy do they love that term) with the old man at the beginning and end are unnecessary. Maybe it's just me, but his reaction doesn't seem overly dramatic in light of what transpires for him in this story (and other things that happened to many people for real) The thing of it is, it seemed absolutely necessary to point the finger squarely at this generation of people. We have a bad habit of shrugging off or even never bothering to learn what it meant to live through those days and times. They're old men now, they look a lot like that old man in the film. Shouldn't the mantle rest on their shoulders? Be honest now, aren't you glad it was theirs and not yours to bear? Give credit where credit is due. I think that this is a specific American story aimed at everyone everywhere. Not an American story aimed at only Americans. I would dearly love to see an honest treatment of the horrors of the Eastern front, for both the Germans and the Russians and the hordes of desperate souls trapped between them. Now that would be graphic.