Saving Private Ryan (1998)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1998
	Director: Steven Spielberg (E.T., Jaws, Schindler's List)
	Actors: Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump), Matt Damon (Dogma), Tom Sizemore (Black Hawk Down), Barry Pepper (Enemy of the State), Vin Diesel (Pitch Black), Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar), Paul Giamatti (John Dies at the End)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, War
	Conditions of visioning: 10.10.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Shortly after D-day, Captain Miller (Hanks) and a small team is sent on a mission to bring back Private Ryan (Damon) whose three brothers have already died in the war.
Review: I finally found the courage to watch this movie again after I did it only once at the cinema when it went out. I still remembered vividly the realistic (and thus horrible) war scenes that Spielberg managed to depict and that helped him won so many Academy Awards. The scenes that come to mind are of course the first half-hour (D-day) and the last one (I find the knife scene in particular very disturbing). But as I expected, those scenes occupy "only" one third of this three-hour movie, the rest being used to tell a wonderful story and to show us lovable and realistic characters to whom we get attached. After Schindler's List (1993) and this Saving Private Ryan, people started to say that Americans learn World History only when it is told in a Spielberg movie. My only criticism would be that there are too many incredibly good-natured characters (I mean not selfish ones), making the story a bit less believable. But this is well balanced by the display of dark sides of the human nature (the slaughter at the beginning, and the so very human character of Upham). Saving Private Ryan is a good complement to the other classic on the topic: The Longest Day, which was more told in a objective/documentary fashion and displaying a famous cast. Without the same headline, Saving Private Ryan still gathers a solid bunch: Sizemore, Pepper, Ribisi, Giamatti, Diesel (not yet an action hero then). Definitely a must-see.
Rating: 9 /10