An intensely personal and intimate film, bold, difficult to watch but not artless.

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2020)

Less of a movie and more of a parable, a reminder of heroism and an experience and an exercise in empathy for a new generation when it came out and today.
What struck me immediately with the 4K transfer, besides the vivid colours of fire and blood, and those incredible and soulful close-ups, is how the documentary style of the film is still often so present and immediate and fresh. It revivifies the themes and the meaning of the film all over again and a perfect promotion for what upgrading the quality of films can do for them. This too happened with Apocalypse, Now: Final Cut.
Saving Private Ryan is a film constructed to say so much with so little, the characters of the film follow the same rule, effortlessly watchable with no one painted with broad strokes and left, like comrades, with their depth and uniqueness just bubbling beneath the surface. The aural soundscape is second to none, overwhelmingly impressive and immersive.
There's nothing sadistic about this film and yet it is brutal and pulls no punches. It's a warm hearted warning about war and a subtle and unstuffy character study about men at war.