Saving Private Ryan 1999, Rated R

Buy it from

Starring Tom Hanks, et al. Released to DVD on May 25, 1999.

Billed as the best war film of all time, I had some rather lofty expectations about the action, choreography, and historical accuracy that was to be shown in Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg addressed these issues and many others without a single misstep. I haven't seen a film with this level of technical prowess since James Cameron's Titanic.

Tom Hanks stars as John Miller, the captain of a unit of Rangers participating in the invasion of Normandy. Once Hanks' company reaches land safely, which is quite a daunting and trying task in itself, he learns that he is to lead 8 men on a mission to find the last surviving member of the four Ryan brothers fighting in the war. Private Ryan is to be pulled from the front lines and sent home, the government officials in Washington hoping that this action will somewhat ease Mrs. Ryan's emotional pain and loss. Hanks questions the assignment, but reluctantly agrees to accept the task and leads his men behind enemy lines to find, and save Private Ryan.

Spielberg has never been accused of being a director of small, unassuming motion pictures and, in this respect, Saving Private Ryan is no different. The locations, production design, sound quality, and special effects are second to none and positively seamless. The recreations of bombed out French towns and battle scenes were extraordinary, but the most power element of this film came with its definitive anti-war message.

Opening with the invasion of Omaha beach, Spielberg took one of the deadliest and casualty-filled encounters of World War II this side of Iwo Jima and put the brutality and self-destructive nature of war on-screen. Using a variety of hand-held cameras and differing perspectives, Spielberg unflinchingly shows the casual disregard for human life in war; German machine gunners pick off American soldiers left and right, and we, the viewers, are left with images of infantrymen minus limbs, internal organs, and heads.

After having screened this film, I was shaken as the on-screen gore permeated most, if not all of the battle scenes. But this was precisely the point of the hand-held cameras, and identifiable lead actor, Hanks, in Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg and screenwriter Robert Rodat took great pains to create a celluloid tale that would allow for mainstream American audiences to be transported back to the 1940's and placed in the midst of one of the most deadly and savage wars in modern times.

The only negative in the Saving Private Ryan experience came with the poor decision to cast numerous, recycled, television actors in minor roles. Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies, and Edward Burns were well cast, but placing actors like Ted Danson and Adam Goldberg in minor roles was confusing and off-putting as I began to wonder exactly what Sam Malone was doing in Europe in the middle of a war.

Saving Private Ryan wasn't the best told story of 1998, that was a distinction that goes to Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth, but, like Titanic in 1997, was the most memorable and profound cinematic experience of the year. For this simple reason, Saving Private Ryan should win the Oscar for Best Picture. It would be quite an upset should any other film win that coveted award.