Stunning; should have won Best Picture

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2002)

Much has been said about the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan". Here's all you need to know about it; at preview screenings of it, some veterans who survived D-Day had flashbacks of their unimaginable experiences. Some couldn't bring themselves to watch. That being said, anyone who wasn't there on D-Day should see this film so they will have some small idea of what those brave soldiers went through.
After the opening scenes, we get to the plot of the movie, the search for a young man whose brothers have all been killed in the war. A troop of soldiers is sent to bring this young man home. On the way, they question the validity of their mission; why risk a whole group of men to save one? It is a question that has no easy answer, for the characters or the audience.
This is, in my opinion, the greatest movie about the Second World War ever filmed. It was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but lost to "Shakespeare in Love". Why the Academy snubbed "Saving Private Ryan" is a mystery and, again in my opinion, the biggest mistake the Academy ever made.