Saving Private Ryan

Casts : Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemor

Saving Private Ryan opens with a 30-minute war scene that is without a doubt one of the finest half-hours ever on film. This sequence, a soldier’s-eye view of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, is amazing not only in terms of technique but in the depth of viewer reaction it uses. Spielberg doenst hold anything back to the viewer of the horrors of battle, using every way he can to show the chaos and lives that were lost.

After fighting in the battle of Omaha beach D-Day, veteran Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) is sent on a WWII rescue mission, he is supposed to find paratrooper Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) and bring him home . Ryan’s three brothers have all been killed in action and the Army wants him returned to his family. The paratroops of the 82nd Airborne are scattered far and wide though, and finding Ryan proves far from easy.

Hard-bitten Rangers (Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi) are joined by an interpreter, Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies). Upham has no combat experience, and is held in contempt by the veteran soldiers on the mission. Several of Miller’s men are killed in incidents, but they do eventually locate Ryan — who refuses to leave his unit! His squad of paratroops is tasked to hold a key bridge, and Ryan insists on doing just that. Capt. Miller and the surviving Rangers (plus the untested & shaky Upham) agree to help, and in a climactic battle scene, manage to hold off a German counter-attack.

The film’s central question (When is one life more important than another?) is never really answered. For those who are willing to brave the movie’s shocking and unforgettable images, Saving Private Ryan offers a singular motion picture experience. I will be surprised if another film tops it for the best of 1998.

Ryan, now seen as an old man revisiting the military cemetery at Normandy, visits the grave of Capt. Miller and tells his rescuer that he has tried to live a good life in exchange for the sacrifice of Miller and the rest. Overall its is worth seeing.