Is everyone missing the point?

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 1998)

With out a doubt, Steven Spielberg has made a wonderful film with "Saving Private Ryan". It is a film that will change you. What I am having trouble with is, what many reviewers and the general public are seeing as the message of the film. It seems to me that they think the message of this film is "war is hell". I feel that does a disservice not only to this film, but to everyone of those soldiers. Of course war is hell, even those poor war movies covey that message.
This is not a film about the horrors of war, it's about the sacrifices of war. Everyone of those grave markers that you see in Normandy represents a man or woman that sacrificed for us. Those sacrifices are all embodied in the character of Pvt. James Ryan and his family. Here is a family, and at the time a country, that forgave their own personal needs & wants for those of the rest of the world. I believe that Speilberg is reminding us all of that sacrifice. Throughout the search for Pvt. Ryan we feel the ridiculous nature of the mission...(FUBAR). Here is a group of men that are sacrificing for one man and his family...us. When Capt. Phillips (Hanks) says to Ryan "earn it", Speilberg is saying it to us. Speilberg has "earned it" by the making of this film. Now the question is...what have the rest of us done?