Gory, but well-acted paean to WWII

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2000)

I believe that Steven Spielberg has three objectives here: 1) to prove that war is REALLY hell; 2) to shine a spotlight on the veterans who gave and risked their lives defending our country at a time when patriotism meant something; and 3) to tell a poignant story. He succeeds in all 3, but only the third is what really interests me when seeing a movie. The other objectives lead to overdoing the gory aspects of things, and some uncharacteristically poor editing and confusing use of slow-motion. In fact much of the camerawork here seems to be uncharacteristically self-conscious for Spielberg. That being said, this still merits viewing -- it is quite memorable.