Another review

Saving Private Ryan is shattering. There is no other word to describe it. No matter how much you've read about the famed 25 minute opening sequence detailing the invasion of Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), you are still pommelled into horrified silence. The brilliant direction of Steven Spielberg and cinematography of Janusz Kaminski puts you right there on the beach, as a young soldier entering the closest thing to hell on earth. All around you your colleagues pray with visible fear, vomit from the rough launch ride through the choppy sea, and get ripped to pieces by the merciless machine gun fire from the enemy up on the hill. Mortar bombs blow limbs from torsos, and deep red streams run down the sand to the lapping waves. Cries of excruciating pain ring in your ears, and yet you must proceed, heedless of the sound of bullets ricocheting off metal barriers.
Such is the intensity of this first half hour that you don't even breathe a sigh of relief when it's over, fearful of the battle flaring up again. I'll say it now: Saving Private Ryan is the most brutal and graphically realistic depiction of the horrors of war in the history of motion pictures. Earlier films tended to portray the heroism of war, and some, such as the Rambo series, even revelled in its glory. Then, in the 80s, with Vietnam a fresh memory, a string of anti-war films (Platoon, Casualties of War) showed what it was really like in those steaming, surreal jungles. But even those pale in comparison to the recreation of the relentless slaughter perpetuated on Omaha Beach. So effective is this sequence that on many occasions later in the film I was afraid of who would get a bullet in the head, or have his throat punctured and blood squirting out. Spielberg is a master at creating suspenseful situations (the unseen shark in Jaws, the T-Rex attack in Jurassic Park, the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark), and there are plenty in Saving Private Ryan. However, the suspense comes from not knowing whose life is expendable, or when or where the next bullet is coming from.
The story, as such, concerns a mission to find and bring home a Private James Ryan whose 3 brothers have been killed in action within a week of each other. The men entrusted with this mission are Captain John Miller (Hanks), a survivor of Omaha, and his company. The group is the usual ragtag bunch of soldiers seen in many war films, including a loud-mouthed Brooklynite, a Jew who delights in showing off his Star of David to passing German POWs, a bible-quoting sharpshooter, and a sensitive interpreter who is thrown into situations he is ill-equipped to face. Everyone knows their mission is a public relations exercise, and the question of why Ryan's life is more important than theirs is voiced often, but never quite answered. As their leader, Hanks gives probably his finest performance. He knows that winning the war is important, and yet his desire to go home to his wife drives him to complete his mission. The scene where he breaks down and cries is heartbreaking. The supporting cast is solid, and though we do not really get to know them in intimate detail, we can feel their fear and pain.
It seems surprising that after decades of directing and producing fantasy/action/adventure films, Spielberg would be most acclaimed for two films set during World War 2 (the other being Schindler's List). They each show different sides of the war, and though neither is less graphic than the other, Schlinder's List was like a long fuse, showing a slow escalation of the inhumanity of the Nazi machine. Saving Private Ryan, however, is a full-on, visceral assault on your heart and senses that never stops till the film is over. There are many images that will remain seared in my memory, including one particularly painful fight that literally pierces the heart. It is the first film I have seen that showed me what it was like out there in the trenches, and the horror and futility of it all. Thanks to this film, I now look at our veterans with new respect. My recommendation: see it. There probably will not be a more powerful film this year