Saving Private Ryan: Truly A Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2011)

Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII's D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath in this movie,Saving Private Ryan.The story,written by Robert Rodat,is loosely based on the real-life case of the Niland brothers.It features Tom Hanks as U.S. Army Captain John H. Miller,together with Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Goldberg,Jeremy Davies and Matt Damon as Private First Class James Francis Ryan,a paratrooper who is the last surviving brother of four servicemen.
The story opens with a prologue in which a veteran brings his family to the American cemetery at Normandy, and a flashback then joins Capt. John Miller and GIs in a landing craft making the June 6, 1944, approach to Omaha Beach to face devastating German artillery fire. Miller's men slowly move forward to finally take a concrete pillbox. On the beach littered with bodies is one with the name "Ryan" stenciled on his backpack. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall, learning that three Ryan brothers from the same family have all been killed in a single week, requests that the surviving brother, Pvt. James Ryan, be located and brought back to the United States. Capt. Miller gets the assignment, and he chooses a translator, Cpl. Upham, skilled in language but not in combat, to join his squad of right-hand man Sgt. Horvath, plus privates Mellish, Medic Wade, cynical Reiben from Brooklyn, Italian-American Caparzo, and religious Southerner Jackson, an ace sharpshooter who calls on the Lord while taking aim. Having previously experienced action in Italy and North Africa, the close-knit squad sets out through areas still thick with Nazis. After they lose one man in a skirmish at a bombed village, some in the group begin to question the logic of losing more lives to save a single soldier.
Saving Private Ryan develops into a powerful and potent portrayal of men at war.It sets a new benchmark for realism in World War II films, and defined war movies for a generation. A film of scope and vision rarely experienced, its award-winning cinematography and sound editing helped convey the blood-chilling images that presents war as violent,harrowing, and horrific.Aside from that,it also presents a soul especially with the characters involved.The cast provided brilliant and excellent performances especially from its lead star,Tom Hanks.And definitely,Spielberg was masterful in his direction of the film as he sends an anti-war message but not to the point of condemning patriotism and love for one's country and countrymen.Truly a masterpiece.