A gem amongst the trash

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2008)

OK first off let me be clear on a few points: I rarely, if ever, write reviews. Second, I am not American, I'm a proud Canadian. I'm not enlisted in our military, nor am I a veteran.
Saving Private Ryan has turned out to be, in my opinion, one of the most moving films in the last 40 years. So realistic that Veterans of the War and in particular Operation Overlord (or Operation Atlantic for the Canadians participation on June 6, 1944) have a hard time watching the movie.
Now, the events that the 8 soldiers in the movie participate in are an amalgamation of several different events that happened to different people throughout the real war: While Charlie Company, 2nd Rangers Battalion did participate in Overlord, they were at Pointe du Hoc, not Omaha Beach as depicted here. The rescue of Sgt Fredrick Niland was not done by a group of rangers, but rather by a French chaplain. Bridges were a common point of contention and it was not unheard of to see a small group of soldiers defending such an important transportation artery.
Saving Private Ryan takes these events and more and weaves them into an incredible story of the courage and honor that has left me stunned time and time again. Unlike so many movie characters these days, I see a depth to these characters. Mellish is a Jew. Miller is a schoolteacher. Jackson is a Christian. And of course the somewhat nerdy Corporal Upham.
On the other side we have Steamboat Willie, unfortunately the only German (being German does NOT make him Nazi) soldier we see a whole lot of. It is likely that, like the Americans, he is only following orders, as the Nazi Regime in those days "recruited" as many able bodied soldiers as they could - including POWs, like the Czechs.
In addition if you think that the blood and gore is an attempt to provide "entertainment value" to this film, then maybe you need to look up the real WWII. In contrast SPR is much more sterile in that respect than the war really was. War is a bloody, horrible, terrible thing, and SPR comes very close to that reality. Blown off limbs, spilled guts, and blood are unfortunate realities.
If your looking for a film to watch for entertainment value, don't bother with this one. If, on the other hand, you want to watch a movie that is a worthy tribute to our Veterans - American, Canadian, British - this one is well worth your while. Start to finish, this film gives me a sense of pride to think of all those people in our military who fight so hard and put their lives on the line just so ordinary people like myself can stay free and live our lives the way we were meant to. My hat's off to those people, with a heartfelt thanks and prayer.
One last note, I have heard of this film (and even the real Operation) being paralleled and compared with the computer game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (or MOHAA for short). Let me be crystal clear on this point: It was a good game (I played it) but it was just that - a game. If you die, you can start over until you win. The same was not true for all the people that gave their lives during this bloody campaign. None of them had a health bar of 100 and a start button for another chance at the battle.
My hats off to Steven Spielberg and the Cast for such a superb effort!