Saving Private Ryan

Devastating. That’s about the only word I can think of to describe this movie. Imagine every war movie ever made, multiply it by 3 and that’s about the intensity of this movie. And if you think that Spielberg can’t top Schindler’s List, you may be wrong. This is as good, if not better than his previous masterpiece.

It’s about Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and his men who are sent into hostile territory (was there any other kind in this war?) to save one man, Private James F. Ryan (Matt Damon just before he became Hollywood’s new pin-up boy). Ryan’s three brothers were killed in action and his mother got the notices on the same day. Now they have to get her last living son out of there. They didn’t want another Sullivan fiasco (the real life brothers who all died in action).

With this movie Spielberg makes a more dramatic WWII version of Apocalypse Now. These men are on a mission to find a man. On the way they meet up with different soldiers, enemies and obstacles that change them forever. They are all kind of cynical about their mission, but they know that they have to do it. Their captain says so. The men are Private Reiben (Ed Burns), Sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore), Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies from Spanking The Monkey and an episode of “The Wonder Years” (his character was, coincidentally, named Eddie Horvath)), Private Caparzo (Vin Diesel), Private Mellish (Adam Goldberg from Dazed And Confused and The Prophecy), Private Jackson (Barry Pepper) and T/4 Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi from “My Two Dads,” SubUrbia and That Thing You Do!). These eight men are sent to save one and they all question whether it’s worth it. They could all die for one man. If they died for twenty or even two it would be ok, but this is ridiculous.

A lot has been said about the first battle scene, so I’ll keep it short. Let’s just say that it’s the most realistic scene I have ever seen in a movie. The bullets are literally whizzing past my ears. The camera gets splattered with blood and dirt. The bodies go limp before me. The body parts are thrown in my face. The blood washes up on the shore and colors the water. It feels like I’m right there with them watching their buddies get their heads blown off and just being glad it’s not me. I have never seen a more harrowing bit of history in my life and I hope I never do.

After that we go on the mission with the two Toms. We get to see Ted Danson (yes, you read that right, the guy from “Cheers”) in a good, small role. We also see Dennis Farina without his usual pompadour. Also, watch for Dale Dye (the real sergeant who helped get the actors into shape for this movie and other war movies like Platoon) in a small role in the war offices near the beginning.

The movie, of course, borrows from other war movies. There was Apocalypse Now, at times Kelly’s Heroes and The Bridge On The River Kwai. The thing is, it goes one better. Maybe even two. Instead of glorifying the war as Kelly’s Heroes and most other WWII movies have done, it made it real. It brought us down to the level of the soldiers. We all thought that Vietnam was the first war that had our boys doing terrible things to their men. This shows that we were all wrong. The reason we didn’t know about our men killing POWs and people who had surrendered in WWII is that there wasn’t a camera crew following them. TV wasn’t as big a deal back then. Even if it had been they wouldn’t have shown that kind of stuff. It happened, they just didn’t want us to know about it.

The direction is, of course, amazing. Spielberg put his camera right in the middle of the action. It’s almost like a documentary at times. The film changes to a more realistic, grainy stock and we go in. There are times that we can’t really tell what’s going on, but that can be forgiven in this movie. That’s how war is. You never really know. He didn’t want us to be passive observers. He wanted us to be there. He knows when to lighten up and still keep it from being obtrusive. He also puts framing scenes around the real story, just like he did with Schindler. A lot of people feel that it was extraneous in that movie, but I think most are affected by this one. It shows one of the survivors visiting the graves of the ones who were lost at the Arlington National Cemetery. (I don’t think I gave anything away, here. That’s one other truth this movie tells: people die. Even heroes. There’s no way around it.)

The acting is also great. Tom Hanks should get another Oscar. His character is a hard man with a soft heart. He has to keep it together if he wants his men to get out alive, but no man is an island (except for Paul Simon). He breaks down once and you can feel the pain through his performance. He was supposed to break down again, but Tom said that he didn’t want the character to be revealed too much. There has to be some hard edge left to him. Ed Burns is pretty much himself in this one. I know there are some who don’t like him, but I think he’s great. He’s very natural and true to himself. A guy I work with says that his pauses sound fake and he can’t take that. The thing is, that’s how he talks. He gets into his character, but leaves part of himself there. He even gets a few Ed Burnsish lines in here and there. Tom Sizemore is a lot better than I remember him being in any other movie. The other guys give heart-wrenching performances. They’re just kids stuck in a man’s war. In fact, Jeremy Davies looks like he’s wearing his dad’s uniform.

If this movie doesn’t get the Best Picture Oscar there better be a damn good movie on the horizon. I don’t see a better movie coming out anytime soon. Of course, I am going to see a sneak of BASEketball tonight, so maybe we’ll have some competition.