But the film follows more closely the story of Fritz Niland, a G.I. pulled out of Normandy after all three of his brothers were killed in action during one week. But Spielberg, a famed collector of Norman Rockwell's hyper-Americana paintings, has channeled a Rockwell notion of what Mrs. Ryan's home would look like. Ryan's farm looks like the Kansas spread in The Wizard of Oz . At the very least, Saving Private Ryan will give younger viewers a lesson in what their grandfathers went through. Yes, I wept, just like I was supposed to, feeling like a worm in the presence of all those white crosses.
Nobody gives their life for anything.
We steal the lives of these kids. We take it away from them. Saving Private Ryan works as a historical recreation, but its moral simplicity shames its brilliant technology. This essentially confused film will leave audiences not just crushed but bewildered. They'll be perplexed by images that say, We must never let it happen again, and a plot that says, But it was all worth it.