Tells it like it is...

Rating: Null/10 (16 December 2000)

Spielberg has a talent for showing, not telling. He doesn't tell you war is stupid, pointless, and takes young men away from their mothers. He doesn't have to. Mrs. Ryan, seeing the War Dept. car pulling up to her house and knowing that at least one of her sons is dead, unsteadily falls to the ground; a young man crying for his mother as he lays dying; another boy getting his arm blown off, staggers for a minute, then retrieves his arm and scurries off. And this is just the first twenty minutes. These images show you what war is like. It doesn't preach. It just shows the reality and allows the viewer to make his own decision.
Some people complained Germans were depicted negatively in this film. What do you expect? American soldiers who've just seen their buddies blown to bits make friends with the enemy? One of the great strengths of this film is that it's viewed through the eyes of these young men. When the nervous little translator laughs and talks with the soldiers' German captive, that actually felt realistic, but not negative. The German was a young man, too, and you almost felt sorry for him when the other soldiers consider shooting him. The film simealtaneously shows both sides and the viewer realizes the truth: when fighting a war, you're killing not just some faceless shadow. You're fighting 17-year olds who have families and blood and dreams. If everyone in the world was forced to watch this movie, we wouldn't be having problems in the middle east or Ireland or anywhere else.