Postcard from the edge

Rating: Null/10 (5 July 1999)

Finally I saw the picture and actually can not share all the enthusiasm of those sticking an 'movie of the year' label to it; 'cause I can compare. I wish you could see one of war movies made by Russian filmmakers. I believe we have thousands of them and each of them overtops 'Ryan' in sense of movie, in sense of story behind the screen, in sense of tragedy, courage, brotherhood. . Of course, 'Ryan' is the perfectly tailored flick empowered with technically advanced filming and extra-natural guts-wrenching effects to let you practically feel all the disgust of the slaughter. But this is not what makes war so horrible. Unfortunately, 'Ryan' fails to deliver the message. Among movies about WWII this one definitely belongs to 'B' box; it's flat and one-sided. It's like trying to imagine a holiday looking at the resort ad postcard: bright, colorful, rich, exotic.. but tasteless, something you can not touch, feel, enjoy, remember. What we see in 'Ryan' is true but it's not War.