Perposterous

Rating: 3/10 (31 May 2008)

Spielberg is a highly competent director, who has a brilliant knack for making the right film at the right time. This has resulted in a number of his works being over-hyped to the point of the ridiculous.
Saving Private Ryan is most certainly one of those films. Here we have a thin and totally implausible story, shallow characters, lack of historical authenticity... yet a reputation (confirmed on this board) of being "the best war movie of all time."
Let me refute that view on just a couple of points.
First, we should be clear that, while the opening D-Day sequence is certainly Spielberg at his best, it is by no means the best -- nor the first -- big-screen depiction of the realities of war. In fact, it's largely a rip-off of the equally good, and much earlier, beach-landing sequence in Cornel Wilde's 1967 tour-de-force, Beach Red. Spielberg modernizes the visuals very effectively, but does not improve on that earlier work, and in fact, echoes many specific sequences within it. (Wilde's film is also far more powerful in the rest of its story.)
Second, aside from Private Ryan's many other weaknesses, I find most glaring it's unintentional irony. What country in WW II - other than the USA - could in its wildest dreams enjoy the luxury of bringing back one son merely because his siblings had died??? I can only imagine the jeers that must greet this idea when the film is shown in, say, Russia -- where tens of millions died, with no such convenient reprieves and nowhere to flee in any case. Or in England, where whole families had no choice but to soldier their way through the Blitz. The fact is, the soldiers of the USA were relatively unique in having a safe haven to return *to.* Saving Private Ryan not only manages to forget that fact, it somehow tries to make American troops seem the more heroic for it!
I say the irony is unintentional... In fact, I long wondered if Spielberg had *meant* the story-line of Private Ryan ironically. But a recent interview on TCM convinces me that he did not. That's a shame. Done deliberately, this could have been a deliciously vitriolic statement on how the powers-that-be manipulate fighting men in the field. Instead, it's more like a slap in the face to the very men it attempts to honor. I have no idea how prevalent the "Private Ryan" reprieve really was; but presenting it without context does a disservice to the entire force.
On the positive side, there's no denying the production is well-mounted. I give the film 3 stars, chiefly for the technical brilliance of the opening sequence - and for the presence of the always-watchable Tom Hanks.