Definitely strong parts, but a questionable whole.

Rating: Null/10 (12 August 1998)

The opening, twenty minute scene offered me more than most of the rest of the film. It should have been more heavily edited, and the tricks that Spielberg has used so successfully in his past blockbusters could (and should) have been foregone in this picture. I have never given him much credit as a filmmaker beyond his ability to make films that lots of people like to see: which is worth something, it's true, but with the exception of Schindler's List I haven't found much to look at in his films and even less to pay attention to in terms of plot. Most of his films, SPR even, are the basic western prototype, with good guy v. bad guy. That can be fine, too. But I really wanted him to convince me of something, to move me, with this film. I was heavily persuaded by the wonderful interview piece by Hendrik Hertzberg in The New Yorker a few weeks ago into believing that Spielberg was trying to make a smart, difficult, realistic film, and to some degree he did. But where was the swearing? Is it true that only white men fought in WWII? Did soldiers really, even in the heat of battle, immediately dive into the pockets of their dead buddies for the "Dear Mom and Dad" letters? I don't know the answers to these questions yet. I think this is an important film. I think many scenes were filmed very well. I think it would be a very meaningful and intense film for a WWII veteran: for those, like me, who did not fight in that war, I think it missed something to make me feel invested, to really move me. I'm not an overly-callous or violent person, nor do I in any way *enjoy*--that is, take real pleasure in--heavy -duty war scenes, yet I never had to look away: and it seems that I should have felt compelled to do that at some point, and I went into this film expecting that.