A thank you to all veterans

Rating: 10/10 (20 May 2010)

Growing up, I knew that my family had a lot of history in the United States Marine Corps and the U.S. Army. My grandfather and his brother were soldiers in the Pacific, and my grandmother's brothers were Marines alongside them. My grandfather would often be asked about what happened over there, and he always just bowed his head, swallowed hard, and told half truths and "beside-the-point" stories to appease whoever asked- never truly telling any of us what he and his fellow Americans were- heroes.
I had often wondered myself why my grandfather wouldn't talk about WWII, but one day in my U.S. History class in high school I got my answer. This film opened my eyes to the horrors of war. I sat in shock as the gore exploded in front of me, wondering how soldiers and Marines like those in my family lived- or whats more, were able to cope with the events that made them heroes.
My point with all of this is that in this day and age, we as a society are so accustomed to violence that we don't really realize what fighting men go through in times of war. We see "10 soldiers killed in Iraq" on the news, but it doesn't really register to us as civilians. This was Spielburg's goal in making this film. He wanted to show all of us what fighting men go through for us- you and me. Every American Citizen should see this film to truly understand what it takes to keep us safe.
As far as the film itself goes, it is absolutely amazing. No film is perfect, but the actors are incredibly convincing in their roles. The emotion is there, the battle recreations are realistic and as they were in life, and the cinematography is outstanding. It's very obvious that everyone involved with this film was dedicated to making it a tribute to the veterans and it is without any shadow of a doubt, the best war movie ever made.
One thing to note is that this is NOT a film for your kids or a film to watch casually. It is intense and should be treated as such.
10/10