Among the best WWII films

Rating: 8/10 (2 February 2009)

"Saving Private Ryan" was Steven Spielberg's tribute to the men who fought for freedom in the second world war. The film begins with the D-Day landing before moving on to a mission with the express purpose of retrieving a private whose three brothers have recently fallen in combat.
The story is loosely based on a similar case involving four brothers by the name of Niland. However, Robert Rodat's screenplay also uses Ryan to represent the unknown individuals that these soldiers risked (and often lost) their lives for. The script is occasionally clumsy in its attempts at profundity but not enough to be a major distraction.
The cast is a varied and well-assembled lot. Tom Hanks secured the film's only Oscar nomination in the acting categories but the entire cast upholds a high standard of workmanship. Even actors whom I usually don't care for, such as Edward Burns and Vin Diesel, deliver performances that fit in seamlessly with their peers and their surroundings. As a result, I have to credit the casting director with finding the right actors for the right parts.
Spielberg's direction won him his second Oscar in that category and is everything that you would expect from him. The first twenty or so minutes in particular (the D-Day landing) is riveting while Spielberg continually shows himself capable of handling all situations and settings with aplomb. Of course, this wouldn't be a Spielberg film without a John Williams score. Williams contributes a fine score here, if not quite reaching the same lofty heights as his very best work.
All things considered, "Saving Private Ryan" is quite an achievement. It boggles the mind that "Shakespeare in Love" beat this for the Best Picture Oscar. Surely that is a snub to go down in history along with the likes of "Raging Bull" & "Apocalypse Now".