Spielberg has perfectly distilled the cost of freedom, the debt we owe to the World War II generation, and the paradox of war into a single film.

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 1999)

The subjective viewpoint of this film gives it a power we can only imagine from reading about war. Spielberg's use of experimental shutters in his cameras, his use of bleached and muted color and a masterful sound mix recreate the shock and utter hellishness of combat. The audience is put in the center of the action and knows what it is like to experience Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, and the fighting across Normandy in the weeks after.
Casting is superb. Each and every actor in this film is utterly perfect, from Tom Hanks through the veteran Harve Presnell in a powerful cameo appearance. The scenes of present-day Ryan visiting the cemetery cause me to appreciate anew the sacrifices of my father's generation. Do I prize highly enough what was done so I might inhabit this world free of Hitler and his Nazi evil? God help me, I hope I do.
The screenplay brilliantly introduces elements at perfectly timed intervals to underscore the physical, emotional and mental suffering war inflicts. It is the demon face of war.
I ask my British cousins to not feel neglected or slighted in any way by this film. The story's focus is on Americans in Normandy, June 6-15, 1944. It could have been a movie about British, Canadian or Free French forces, but it is not. It in no way diminishes, overlooks or ignores British or other Allied contributions and sacrifices, without which victory certainly would not have been accomplished.
Steven Spielberg deserves the thanks of every one on this planet for so clearly defining the central issues of war in general and specifically what is arguably the defining moment of the twentieth century, World War II. Let the Oscar balloting reflect Spielberg's contribution to the world and to the motion picture industry.