Ostensibly
about the heroism of soldiers who did their duty in World
War II, the film tells theater audiences that the combat of
war is hell, battlefield decisions made on the spur of the
moment can be brutal, orders from the top can be absurd, and
the good die young, physically and mentally. The cause may
be just, we are told, but the justification for war is simpler
when the aggressors are unjust. Interestingly, the contrast
of Steven Spielberg versus Oliver Stone is increasingly imprinted
on filmviewers as Saving Private Ryan goes on
to its redundant third hour-soldiers fighting for a cause
versus without a cause, GI heroes versus GI assholes, ethnic
solidarity versus ethnic discord, Europe versus Asia, etc.
Yet both agree that war is a sport of commanders with too
much power and with too little understanding of human suffering,
and they agree that the psychological wounds of war are never
quite healed in peacetime. The film is based on the book of
the same title by Max Allan Collins. MH
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