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Saving Private Ryan

Steven Spielberg's brillant, shocking and deeply moving film about D-Day is one of the best war films ever made. But it's not a film for the faint-hearted.

The film is divided into three parts. It opens with a brief and contemporary scene in an American cemetery at St Laurent-Sur-Mer; then the film flashes back to the first wave of landings of American troops on Omaha Beach. And at that moment, their long and dangerous run toward the coast taken up by the German soldiers began. Veterans of the invasion have said that no World War II battle has been filmed more accurately.

The second part follows a company of US Army Rangers who have survived the Omaha landing. Their leader is Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), they are sent in a search-and-rescue mission in the Normandy fields to find and bring home safely an American soldier, Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who has lost his three brothers in the battle -- a mission Miller describes as "finding a needle in a stack of needles."

The third part is a brillantly choreographed battle focusing on the rescue and on the Americans' efforts to hold a vital bridge from German attack, while protecting Private Ryan so he can be sent home, completing their mission.

"Saving Private Ryan" is unlike the typical 1940's American war film, in which the soldiers died heroically, if bloodlessly. Spielberg has done his work; even though the invasion beach scenes were filmed in Ireland, they look authentic. The soldiers are costumed in period uniforms and carry authentic guns.

The film has caused many critical comments in the United States. Some people see it as an anti-war film; others see it as a strong patriotic film which honors all American soldiers.

Also noteworthy is the supporting cast of Hollywood regulars, including: Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, Ted Danson, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg, and many more.

Saving Private Ryan is just a film not to be missed; it shows Eisenhower's famous statement: "We will accept nothing less than full victory."

Written by: Emilie Delacour

Reviewers Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 9.12
Reader's Votes: 25

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