After my weekly 2 hours of work on Saturdays, my wife and I had an early lunch, then she took off for her hair appointment, down in Maple (where we both grew up, which is about 45 minutes south). Thus, I FINALLY had some downtime to watch Saving Ryan's Privates.
Saving Private Ryan (1998):
An elderly man walks down a pathway, with his family in tow. He comes to the Normandy Memorial/Cemetery and he falls to a knee, stricken with grief. He then reminisces... (even though he wasn't present for the first hour 45 of the film lol).
Omaha Beach on D-Day, dozens of boats (LCIs; "Landing Craft Infantry)" head to the beach , with the anti-tank/ship obstacles scattered throughout. As the first boat lowers its ramp so that the soldiers can make their way onto the beach, they are immediately bombarded by artillery fire and all are killed dead. The same happens to a further two boats, when Tom Hanks' character yells for his battalion to jump over the sides, to avoid the fire. As more and more boats come into the picture, more and more men are gunned down, until eventually, enough break through to get to the seawall. From there, they (Hanks' battalion) are able to pick off a few artillery men and make their way up to the battery, where they snuff out Germans and torch the battery. Eventually, after heavy, HEAVY casualties, the Americans break through and secure the beach (I'm leaving out a ton of details, which aren't really spoilers, but they add to the intricacies and nuances of the wonderfully-shot, but brutal sequence).
Like many who saw this film on their first viewing, I needed to take a few minutes to myself, as I began to tear up at the scene that just transpired; it didn't happen as soon as the scene ended, but the subsequent scene in the military offices, where people typed the telegrams sent to the families of dead soldiers, is what did me in, as it sunk in just how terrible and sad the whole war was and how so many people were mindlessly-killed, like in the previous scene.
Anyways, one woman (presumingly, a, "supervisor," of sorts) sees one letter and immediately stop to go and collect two more; the letters are all for the same mother, who has lost 3 of her 4 sons. She brings them to the officer in charge (played by an armless Bryan Cranston), who in turn goes to a top General, to inform him of the plight of the family. The General then creates a special mission, tasked to Hanks and a group hand-picked by himself (all but one are members of his battalion), to go and extract the 4th son (Private James Ryan) and send him immediately home.
I'm not going to spoil anymore, as I firmly believe that this is required viewing for every person on this planet; I have never lived during wartime, my grandfather, who died before I was born, was an ambulance driver in WWII and few stories (aside from the, "cardboard boots," one), have ever been told to me, thus I truly do not know the ultimate significance and experiences of WWII... but if this film is even a small glimpse, Jesus Christ, I do not EVER want to be involved in something like this. I have never cried as hard as I did for any film, the way I did towards the end of this film and all throughout the credits; not because of the images and scenes that were depicted on-screen (though they absolutely were harrowing), but because, like above, it sunk in just how lucky and privileged so many of us are, to not have gone through the atrocities of war... I am so grateful for anyone that fights for their country, with pride, courage and love, but I am 100x as grateful now, after watching this film. There's a reason why so many soldiers with PTSD, had it come back in waves or get magnified, after a viewing.
Aside from the message, however, this is an absolutely phenomenal film, definitely one of the 5 best films I have ever seen. There's a reason why Spielberg is put on such a massive pedestal and it is so-deserved. I think WWII brings out the best in his filmmaking, as Schindler's List is also on a level that this film reaches (I watched in Grade 10, far away from the screen with my poorish eyesight and while I remember the film well, I need to watch it again as an adult, as the magnitude of the images on-screen will 100% have a different meaning now, than they did half my life ago) and I'm glad he was recognized for his efforts, with that film and this one. Only 1 other film IMO, displays the brutality and bleakness of war that SPR does and that's Bullet in the Head, by John Woo (I wrote about it in the earlier pages of this thread).
The acting is incredible, from Barry Pepper, to Giovanni Ribisi, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg and Vin Diesel, the crew of guys come off with fantastic chemistry and Burns' fate at the end was perfect; I was really happy for the character. But Sizemore and Hanks in the two main roles (I say, "main," in that they are the two in-command of the group), just as incredible, Hanks especially; I'm always captivated by his characters, but he took it to another level in this film: they all did. I'm in-concert with many, who feel that Diesel should've gotten more screentime, but I'm glad that this catapulted him to bigger things for himself (F&F, namely), but the rest of the cast has a perfect amount of screentime, IMO.
Probably the greatest element that stood out to me however, was the cinematography; I can say without hyperbole, that this is the best-shot film I have ever seen: angles, lighting, filters, shades, techniques used, I was in awe at just how beautiful the film looked. The famous 10-20 second shot of the group walking over a flat field at night, with explosions in the background is sheer beauty and wonder.
I can't believe how much this film moved me; as with every film, despite the hype, I went into this without any expectations... and I was blown away, in every sense of the expression. Again, if you haven't seen this film yet in your life, do it. You may not like the brutality of it, you may not agree with the motivations of the characters or of the war itself, you may not appreciate the fantastic dialogue in inappropriate times or situations, but I hope if you do see it, you come out with a sense of understanding and acknowledgement, that there is a shit-ton of evil in the world... but there is even more good, even if the good has to dance with the devil to get its desired-result, there is even more than a shit-ton of good in the world. And we should feel lucky, lucky that the majority of us don't have to experience what the world did at that time, lucky that we have an opportunity to do good for the world and others and lucky for all of the good times with family, friends and other things that make us happy... because we could live in a world where everyday is depicted like in the film.
10/10, no rounding. One of the greatest pieces of cinema, ever.