moving, lingering,superb

Rating: Null/10 (22 November 1999)

Saving Private Ryan is something quite special in the 1990's pantheon of Hollywood movies- it stays with you long after you have left the cinema and truly makes you reflect on what you have just seen. Artistically it is a triumph- the cinematography is breathtaking, shot as it is with a handheld documentary style and the performances too are superb..with naturalistic dialogue and astoundingly realistic battle scenes. It works so well because it defies the cliches laid before it as a genre which even FULL METAL JACKET and PLATOON fell unwittingly into...SAVING PRIVATE RYAN acknowledges that death can come to all or any of the characters at any time, brutally, even when you expect the characters you admire the most(through careful development) to survive. And that is how it should be, because that is the nature of true conflict. The only downpoint is the portrayal of the Americans as having been the sole Allied forces involved in the war and beach landings when this was clearly not the case.Saving Private Ryan is moving, powerful and thought provoking. One of the best WORLD WAR II films ever mad and can stand proundly next to the classics of that genre.Highly recommended, though traumtic.