It was a good movie by movie making standards - Saving Private Ryan Reviews

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out and have checked it out a few times for various reasons. The movie (by movie making standards) is incredible. From direction to music to photography I see nothing wrong. This is yet another brilliant masterpiece from Steven Spielberg. However, when Saving Private Ryan first came out it was hailed as, ?The most realistic war movie ever made?, ?A brilliant depiction of men at war?, ?An epic war story!? Where the last statement may very well be true this was not a realistic depiction of men at war. The mistakes in the movie are numerous and troubling. In my household war movies are held to a high standard and a movie that comes with a title of most realistic war movie ever should live up to its hype. The depiction of Omaha Beach is the strongest part of the movie. And among the other beefs I have with this movie that isn?t among them. From everything I have read and heard about that beach Spielberg?s depiction is right on the money. But as the story unfolds problems build. The mission from the beginning is flawed historically and practically. On D-Day the 101st Airborne were not taking bridges they were clearing out areas behind the American beaches, but given that flaw in the movie and letting it go there is no reason that a squad of rangers would go out on a mission to find one man despite his family title. The communication would be such that there would be no practical way to find a Pvt. James Ryan. It is more likely that he would have done his job and if he was alive at the end of the invasion he would have been sent home then. These two flaws in the movie destroy the story. But again, setting them aside and suspending disbelief I still have trouble buying the direction of the flick. The squad is commanded by a Captain. This isn?t his unit, merely a small group of the company he commanded. His company is shot to hell but still functional and when he was handed the mission to find this James Ryan his duties as a company commander were promptly disregarded. The army may have assigned him to choose men for the mission but not to lead the mission and officers were in no doubt short supply anyway. He was needed as a CO for his company. His XO was dead and very possibly his senior NCOs. As the squad proceeds on their mission they talk, and squabble amongst themselves as men do but when they come upon a German machine gun nest a battle hardened and smart commander makes a foolish move. During the opening on the beachhead the sniper of the company does one hell of a job knocking out mg posts as a good sniper will do. He was directed to do so by his company commander. But when they reach the mg nest in question the sniper is told to go in as a typical infantry man. As a result when the gun is charged a member of the team is killed. I remember reading an article in ?Marine Corps Gazette? on good sniping and the author wrote about this scene and picked it apart. A good sniper would have known how to take out that nest at minimum cost and a good infantry commander would have been able to use his sniper effectively. The action doesn?t remain constant with the characters as written. The tension this action creates within the cast leads to a combat refusal from one of the squad members later in the movie. I remember my father crying out in disgust during this scene of the movie in the theater. The woman in front of us took offence and after the movie called dad on it. Dad apologized but when the woman went on to say he had no right to call that unreal as he didn?t know combat dad simply said, ?Ma?am I served in Vietnam and that combat refusal is the ?new army? from that era not the Second World War.? That settled the issue and has stuck in my mind ever since as an example of were reality and Hollywood get blurred. With all that being said I must point out that my trouble stomaching this movie spawns from the hype it received more then the movie itself. It is clearly not a realistic display of men at war. The story is artificial and subsequently the characters are also not real. I think this movie is a good example of a well intended mistake.