Just watched "Saving Private Ryan" again

[kanrok]

What a great movie. Chilling flick about a just war. Moving and emotional.

[if it comes from the whitehouse it must be true]

1. My friends think I am stupid?

Maybe I am?

I think it could have been just as effective without horid graphic violence?

[CanuckAmok]

2. I think it would have been most effective if...

...they'd ended the movie after the Normandy Assault. The rest of that jingoistic flag-fest made me want to :puke: .

[kanrok]

5. It's hard not to get full-blown jingoistic about WWII

in my humble opinion.

[TennesseeWalker]

6. A-men. (n/t)

[CanuckAmok]

9. agreed, but Spielberg was being lauded as the...

...director of the 'greatest anti-war film of all time', but to me, it was a big, fat recruiting ad.

[PinkTiger]

3. You have to separate fact from fiction.

And the point was to tell about the Normandy invasion and show it realistically, and then within the framework of that, show the Private Ryan story.

The whole point was a romantic tale.

You guys.

[kanrok]

4. I don't

I've spoken to WWII vets and they get tears in their eyes when talking about this movie. They say that it is the first war movie to really capture the horrors of war. The first 20 minutes are the most gripping scenes ever. Your point is well taken.

[Loonman]

11. Yeah, war should be sanitized, with fluffy bunnies and daffodils

:eyes:

[Red State Rebel]

7. I loved that movie...made me apreciate my two great uncles

who both died in the war. One on the USS Quincy at Guadalcanal and the other at the battle of Leyte Gulf.

[lpbk2713]

8. Thanks for the reminder

I haven't seen it in a while. I'll make a mental note to do so.

"If the boy's alive, we are going to find him. And we are going to get him...... the hell ......... out of there."

[Nihil]

10. I watched it again on Monday night. Very emotional.

The Normandy landing sequence should be shown to every boy and girl
that shows an interest in enrolling. The horror of the first few
minutes after the landing craft door drops is neither exaggerated
(with excessive gore) nor glossed over (the "It's OK sir, just a
flesh wound" type of comment). The sound of the bullets turning those
seasick scared young men into so much dead meat - with FA chance of
doing anything about it - is chilling in its simplicity. The sight
from the German machine gun emplacement, hosing down people as soon
as they appear, show what happens when you attack a prepared position.
No "training exercise and beer on the beach" there.

The telegram office is also disturbing when you realise just how many
"regret" sheets were being put out as part of normal business and as
for the realisation that the family had lost so many members over such
a short time scale ...

The other section that always gets me (for personal reasons) is when
the officer is asking his sergeant for reassurance that the deaths of
his men were worthwhile. He sent them to their death (albeit leading
from the front) and simply *has* to believe that it was for a reason,
for some benefit to someone and not just a senseless waste of life
and lost dreams.

I switched it off after a while as I was getting too damn emotional
about it - I was watching well-paid *actors* for Heaven's sake! - but
that wasn't just down to the whisky ... it is an excellent film.

Nihil