Best D-Day scene ever

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2009)

Saving Private Ryan rekindled an interest in the media about the Second World War, with the TV Series Band of Brothers, films ranging from the Great Raid to Enemy at the Gate to Pearl Harbor and computer games like the Medal of Honour and Call of Duty series. Saving Private Ryan is also noted for its use of realistic of violence and war combat, which has continued into further films and television programmes.
Set during the early days of the invasion of Europe by the Allied troops, a platoon of American soldiers led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) is assigned to find Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), an soldier who 3 brothers are killed in action. He has a ticket home. The mission sounds simple enough, but Ryan was in the 101th Airborne and dropped behind enemy lines before D-Day. Miller's Platoon has to go through enemy territory to find one man. The platoon who are assigned with Miller start to question the mission, especially when their men start dying.
The war scene, especially the D-Day scene are some of the best committed to film. It shows that war was very brutal, very bloody, confusing and the need for good tactics and good men. The film makes an effort to show a mixed picture, that the Germans were a soldiers, not monsters or all Nazis, whilst some Americans can be arrogant and even committed war crimes, like killing surrendering soldiers. It is so much better compared to a one-dimensional film like Braveheart. Spielberg is a great director, and avoids shooting the film in a ordinary way. He uses a hand-held style, and his cinematographer Janusz Kamiński films in a washed out look, giving the film a documentary, gritty feel. He knows how to make a film visually wonderful. They is an excellent cast, Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon in leading roles, whilst even small roles were filled by established actors like Ted Danson and Paul Giamatti. Tom Hanks is the most well developed character, making you care about what happens to him and what drives him throughout the film. Many of the characters have backstorys like Private Ryan or character traits like the arrogant Jew or the sniper who was a committed Catholic.
There are however problems with this film. The script and story are weak. They are character clichés like the wimp, the ultra good officer who is committed to the mission, the brave soldier, etc.... On the other side of the coin some characters simply disappeared off the screen because you couldn't care about them. The story is also ridiculous; could you really picture the American military risking a whole platoon to save one man, a private, a farm boy from Iowa? Especially with him being in the middle of enemy territory and not knowing where he was, not fighting on the frontline. It's hard to suspend your disbelief. The film is also a normal piece of American Patriotism, showing how great their were. I know it's an American story, but it ignores some of the darker elements which other writers and directors would have focused on, mainly non-American filmmakers. They was no mention of the British or Canadian forces fighting, and even Robert Rodat writes a line which pretty much an attack on Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, a British war hero. Rodat must have some issues with the British because he also wrote the really awful The Patriot. Saving Private Ryan also has the same problem that Gladiator has, that it's opening is so good that nothing else in the film can compare to it.
Saving Private Ryan is a example of a director improving on the script he is given. Worth watching, a good Oscar win for Spielberg, but The Thin Red Line should have won Best Picture in 1998, over Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love.