Self-medication, Mr. Spielberg?

Rating: 1/10 (9 July 2000)

This movie serves two purposes: a) glorify the American soldier from World War II and the American nation in general and b) help Mr. Spielberg overcome his own neurosis about being Jewish, a task he started with "Schindler's List." That probably makes him the envy of anyone who ever saw a psychologist: to get paid for spreading out your psyche instead of having to pay for it.
The first 20 minutes of this movie are amazing, indeed. Very well captured is the sheer horror of landing on a fortified beach; the disorientation, the killing etc. But after that, this movie drops on the level of "Armageddon": a mother has a number of sons, all of them died during the war, except one and the US military surely puts the life of half a dozen soldiers into peril to save that last one. Of course, that is completely logical.

The German soldiers, in the contrary, don't seem to have mothers or anyone who cares about them, they are ugly, lean-mean-killing machines, shouting incomprehensible things and should be killed wherever possible. They are also not just as scared as any other simple soldier on a battle field, they don't have any feelings at all.
So, what could have been a great movie, with all the money spent for and stars on it, playing in the same league as "All quiet on the Western Front" gets to be completely pathetic, unrealistic, super-patriotic and one-sided. Steven Spielberg once said that he often didn't feel he was a "real" American and was left-out because of him being Jewish and that the past of his family haunts him. It is ok to feel that way and I wish him he will finally get rid of both feelings. But on the other hand he also was left out of getting an "Oscar" until "Schindler's List." That was a well done movie, but on the long run it seems it didn't do Spielberg too good. Somewhere he must have come to the conclusion that doing movies about WWII helps him overcome his problems and making them patriotic will help him getting an Oscar.
If you are interested in a realistic look on war, watch "All quiet on the Western Front" or "Das Boot."