There's nothing gratuitous about it, and Spielberg is absolutely justified in sharing with us the nauseating reality. If your stomach can make it through the first half-hour, you'll be okay. After that, the carnage is toned down a bit. With Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg is finishing the job he began with Schindler's List. Cinematically it is brilliant, making Spielberg almost a shoo-in for a Best Director Oscar.
Color is diluted to make the landscapes appear even more bleak.
The meticulously staged battle sequences are mind-boggling in their complexity and could only have been achieved by someone with Spielberg's prodigious experience and abilities. Yet despite the film's ambitious scope, the director doesn't attempt to give us the big picture. Instead, he shows us the war through the eyes of a small group of men. The violence only matters when it affects characters whom we care about. As Captain Miller, he makes the decisions that determine where the action goes next and often determine who lives and who dies.