20 minutes of cinema, 2 hours of American-patriotic-mambo-jambo

Rating: Null/10 (3 November 1998)

The 20 first minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" are among the one of the most dazzling sequences in the history of motion picture. I`ve remembered particularly Sergei Eisentein`s "Potemkin" - perhaps because of the hand-held shaken camera, or because of the reality of the scenes. But... ...unfortunately, Spielberg hasn`t got to - or hasn`t wished to - develop the madness of the war in his movie. The mis-organization of the operations could have been deeply developed. The consequences of the "star wars" between Patton and Montgomery could have been shown implicating both for part of the useless death of thousands of young men. And the disorientation itself of the soldiers could have been better exploited.
Also, an annoying series of cliches runs during all the movie. The soldier that has feelings and gets killed because of them; the coward changed to a hero in the end of the battle; the guy-to-be-saved-that-should-be-a-moron-but-it`s-not; the arrival of the "cavalry" in the very last moment; and, last but not least, the "America brings back home their children" motto. Disgusting.
It`s also annoying to see - or, better speaking, NOT to see - the participation of the French resistance, that gave valious information to the allies and fought the Nazis from inside, with their guerrilla tactics. But who cares? According to Spielberg, the Americans would have won anyway.
Finally, this is the third movie that is released by the director in the 1,85:1 aspect ratio. Probably to be better adapted for the DVD technology coming soon. The screen ends being too small for a movie like this.
If "Saving Private Ryan" was meant to be an anti-war film, it has falled kilometers from this objective. "Apocalypse Now" is far more efficient this way. Spielberg is yet to release a great movie after "Schindler`s List".