Powerful visceral effect but...

Rating: Null/10 (28 September 1999)

The movie is an artistic masterpiece that works best as a monument to those who fought for the 'Good Guys' during WWII. The argument that the Germans during the war were not on the bad side is wrong. That they, on a grunt level, were also just kids stuck in a war is true. Spielberg does not show this for a reason, he's honoring the sacrifice and victory of our fallen Americans in the war. The battle scenes are incredible pieces of gut wrenching artistry and the chaotic slaughter of the first 20 minutes means something to the story, but that story fails at achieving its more provocative, yet slightly out of focus ideas. The ideas are there, and they can be reached through the important viel of the film's realism. But Spielberg, for all his visual brilliance does not make it work. In fact, it seems like he is constantly trying to cloud over our thoughts that may come out of the film with a scene that is meant to close out a story that should not be ended so easily. The men fought and died and lived through that hell for the world we live in today, but instead of letting us contemplate the worth of that sacrifice and allowing those moments of horror to manifest themselves in our minds along side the lives we, as the generations born into that infant world which have taken advantage of this age, Speilberg (and or the screenwriter) has ended the story of that sacrifice. Ryan works as a metaphor for the men who lived to go home and rebuild, or build lives. But that metaphor has a serious flaw when the character is shown finalizing his internal conflict. Well, with that, it seems less of a thanks to a generation. Tom hanks, on the other hand, gives one of his best performances, so does Tom Sizemore (with what little he had to work with). Everyone else overacts. No kidding. The dialogue is very bland and repetitive. Spielberg and Hanks lend them power, but that doesn't hide the awkwardness. I enjoyed the interested paradox of having an incredibly violent war film be patriot. It shows us the horror and nobility, both right next to each other, hand in hand. It shows men facing their own deaths as individuals as a greater good stands in the shadows, but almost completely out of site. That is important, this is one of the first films to do that. But there's a better way of characterizing the men than giving them each a monologue in the minutes before the final battle, or simple stereotype characteristics. Yet this was not what I was thinking when I first saw the film. As an experience the film works, and like a great film, it stays with you. But the more I thought about it, the more its moral and metaphorical problems came to the surface. It's definitely worth seeing, maybe even twice, but it will never provoke its ideas on a deeper level than the logistic banter of the men. It's almost too visceral. For more ideas, see The Thin Red Line. the too films both try to say the same thing (one with a flag, the other with the Earth we fight over), but one succeeds where the other comes just within reach, but not artistically gutsey enough to grab hold and run. They are both about Human dignity in the face of the inhumane. One encompasses the WWII generation, the other encompasses the entire human race. We've seen violence, and if we're not trying to survive it, we should be thinking about why it is. Only then can we overcome it. It's a noble gesture, but impossible. It's bleak, but then again, we're only human.