War is hell, so only the typists survive

Rating: 5/10 (28 August 2005)

Saving Private Ryan is a good movie so far as action scenes and depicting the horror of war is concerned. So far as plot and historical accuracy goes ... well, as it was once said: "Very few things happen at the right time and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects." This is a feature that doesn't seem to bother too many people, however.
The whole movie is based on a laughable premise. When Private Ryan's three siblings are killed in the war, Captain Miller is given an assignment to take a squad of men and go find Ryan. Private Ryan is, of course, behind enemy lines and the mission is highly dangerous (suicidal, actually). And here we find our very distant relationship to reality:
"The plot was inspired in part by the true story of Fritz Niland, one of four brothers from New York state who saw action during the war. Two Niland brothers were killed on D-Day, while another was missing in action in Burma and was presumed dead, although he actually survived. Fritz was located in Normandy by an Army chaplain, Reverend Francis Sampson, and taken out of the combat zone."
So, where a priest managed to do the job singlehandedly in real life, it now takes a squad of battle-hardened soldiers (oh, and a perpetually cringing typist - THAT was a good idea) to be sent to their doom by the loving United States government. The soldiers are, of course, acutely aware of this fact, and they spend no shortage of time dwelling on it for the viewer's pleasure before they finally end up getting killed. Spielberg appears to have a bone to pick with the U.S. Government (and there were, to be sure, bones to be picked), but it would be nice if this one were at least grounded in reality - and if he weren't quite so preachy. For viewers somewhat versed in history and who require a believable plot to enjoy a movie, Saving Private Ryan feels like summer stock in an iron lung. Couple this with Spielberg's typical cheese-ball antics (flashbacks, flash-forwards, women swooning, men swooning!, anything to create an emotional effect with the least possible effort), and you've got yourself some Academy Award-winning eye candy that will forever serve as the gold standard in WWII movies.
(Just as an aside, Tom Hanks apparently recognized the irony behind Saving Private Ryan since he went on to produce a well-done 10-hour HBO mini-series on the 101st Airborne entitled "Band of Brothers" which, in contrast, IS actually believable, which might have something to do with the fact that it employs some amount of historical accuracy. You'd be better off watching Band of Brothers, unless you enjoy the feeling of being brainwashed.)