Not the best war film ever made, but perhaps the most realistic.

Rating: 8/10 (23 November 2005)

What Steven Spielberg has done with "Saving Private Ryan" is simultaneously craft an enormously successful depiction of World War II, and a touching story that places a platoon of bewildered soldiers in a world of frantic pacing -- a startling world of gunfire and proceeding death. The constant movement of the shaky hand-held camera acts as a first person perspective -- we are not merely viewing the movie, but participating in it. This is perhaps as close as we will ever get to realizing the unadulterated fear those soldiers must have felt as they drew nearer to the beaches of France. It is one of the greatest war films ever put on celluloid, its scope arguably larger than any other in the genre, its conflict superb.
The movie, based on the actual events surrounding the Nilan brothers during World War II, is about a group of soldiers sent to rescue Private Ryan (Matt Damon), a young man who loses three brothers in the war, and whose mother is spared the possible chance of losing her remaining son after Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) and his platoon are sent on a dangerous mission to find, and return, Private Ryan to safety.
The men who fight alongside Miller have to question their own actions. What makes Private Ryan more important than any of them? They all have mothers, too. But they follow orders, venturing into the battlefields of WWII France in search of Private Ryan. The most reluctant of the soldiers is Private Reiben (Edward Burns), a pessimistic everyman who feels no need to risk his own life for that of another man.
The battle scenes are ultimately what made "Saving Private Ryan" one of the highest-grossing films of the decade, and what enticed so many eager viewers into theaters. Many veterans of the war reportedly broke down in tears during one of the first sequences, the landing at Omaha Beach, which probably lasts about fifteen minutes -- at least.
However, the movie also reaches a sort of emotional height that few other war films manage to capture. This is a fascinating account of war, packed with terrifyingly realistic scenes and some of the most disturbing images you will ever see in a mainstream film, but it also has a lot to say about friendship and selfless motivations. "Earn this," Captain Miller tells Private Ryan at one point in the film.
Spielberg has proved countless times that he is capable of abandoning his famously schmaltzy style of film-making to record touching stories that often times relate to his own life. Spielberg claims that he felt an internal desire to tackle this project, as much as he felt it was necessary to direct "Schindler's List." Both films work as a sort of documentary-style motion picture, but also contain fundamental emotional truths, which elevate them to higher ground.
Tom Hanks, as Captain Miller, is not the first actor who comes to mind when one thinks of war picture, but Hanks' position in the film works (to great effect) primarily because he personifies the everyman quality of a soldier. As we too often forget, the men who fight wars are not always the Schwarzeneggers with huge muscles and a wealth of weapons and ammunition. The soldiers in World War II were fathers, husbands, brothers, sons. Hanks successfully embodies the image of a simple man who is thrust into a world war and tries his best to stay alive.
Is "Saving Private Ryan" a better movie than "Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," or other great war pictures in the genre? Not necessarily. But it stands on its own as an amazing achievement of pure film-making, and an ode to the thousands of men who lost their lives for the campaign against Hitler's armies. If you can stomach the violence and accurate depictions of brutal warfare, "Saving Private Ryan" is one of the most moving cinematic experiences you will ever have.