One of the greatest movies ever made

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2009)

It's been more than ten years since I convinced my mom to take me to see Saving Private Ryan at the World premiere in '97. I was 16, and the movie had an R rating.
Needless to say I had quite a surprise coming my way.
Since I was a kid I've always been fond of War history and I have read countless books, seen documentaries and so on. Nothing however, have ever opened my eyes like Saving Private Ryan.
In this masterpiece, Spielberg puts you right there on the beach. The excellent photography by Janusz Kaminski (for which he won an Oscar) and amazing sound effects in the breathtaking opening scenes is probably the best sequences in a movie ever. It really makes you feel like you're actually there in person.
Where other war movies often glamorizes the soldier, gives war that romantic "Hero" touch, Saving Private Ryan hacks into your mind like no other movie. It is rough, chillingly brutal, and beautiful at the same time. It tries in no way to give you an illusion, it simply tries to give the audience the feeling of how it was like to be there.
This is where Saving Private Ryan succeeds.
I dare say that no other movie has managed to put a given scenario into such a breathtakingly good movie.
As for the acting, Hanks does a fine job as Cpt. Miller. Even Vin Diesel - Mr. Testosterone - pulls of a convincing role as Caparzo. Giovanni Ribisi was for me maybe the biggest surprise of them all; I dare say his acting style was perfect for the role of Wade.
All in all, I can't find any war movie better, and hardly any movie at all to compete from any category. As for war movies, Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece in itself but not even that comes close to SPR in describing the brutality of war.
I used to love the idea of being a soldier. After seeing this movie more than ten years ago I never dreamed of being one again.