as the small boats rock slowly toward the shore at omaha beach normandy on d-day , the weary , seasick soldiers take a deep breath and open the large protective shield at the back of the boat . 
they are unaware of exactly what is going to happen . 
one man kisses the crucifix that hangs around his neck . 
as the flap falls , the battle begins . 
they are trapped like rats in a cage and proceed to be blown to pieces in the wake of enemy gunfire . 
amid the chaos of this massacre , stands a shot that , at least for me , hangs in the air like the girl in the little red coat in schindler's list . 
a soldier , clearly missing an arm , wanders around the body-strewn beach like a lost puppy . 
we are not invited to know what he is searching for until he finds it himself . 
he bends over , picks up his arm and starts to carry it , probably not bothering to ask himself ; " what now ? " 
saving private ryan is a masterfully composed film . 
the direction is out of this world , surely the type of command that can win spielberg another directing oscar . 
the cinematography , by janusz kaminsky , is also astounding . 
but be forewarned , this is the most violent and graphic film i have ever seen . 
the articles you read and the warnings you see are justified ; saving private ryan is visually as disturbing as a film can get . 
the question is , " does the story and its realism justify the excessive use ? " 
the answer from my point of view is " no " . 
braveheart was a truly gritty , and , one would imagine , realistic battle film . 
ryan is ten times worse . 
expect disembowelments , sucked in skulls , heads blown to bits , arms and legs flying across the battlefield . 
many in the theater could not bear to watch . 
and it is a shame , too , because this is otherwise by far one of the standouts this year . 
but such graphic displays may turn away even the most loyal spielberg supporters ( and academy members ) . 
saving private ryan takes us from the attack at omaha beach on d-day , 1944 , through into the film's primary mission . 
captain miller ( hanks ) assembles an 8 man crew and sets off to find a missing solider , private ryan , whose three brothers have already been killed on the battlefield . 
the government goes to great lengths to make sure that mrs . ryan doesn't recieve a fourth letter of condolences about her sons , that no person should suffer such injustice . 
miller's crew is not in favor of the mission and they begin to harbor a secret hatred for ryan , though they don't yet know him . 
they resent having to trudge out to bring home one soldier who doesn't have any more or less right to live than any of them . 
this film manages to keep up a rapid pace and , though there is a lot of set up between battles , the story continues full speed to the end . 
the pacing and dramatism of the extremely well choreographed battle scenes is really in a league of it's own . 
spielberg , though not a student of the " quick cut " school of filmmaking , takes a stab at it here , and does it better than michael bay or any of his mtv counterparts could ever hope to do it . 
bay should pay close attention , take copious notes . 
if you want to jump cut every two seconds , do it the way spielberg does it in ryan . 
in the end , the extremity of the gory violence is not justified by the " importance " of the film . 
schindler's list taught many people the truth about the holocaust . 
it opened eyes , sparked debate and study . 
though the battle scenes in ryan have never been portrayed as realistically before , they don't amount to anything as serious or thought provoking as the schindler's list . 
overall , this is just the truest depiction of the old adage , " war is hell . " 
but braveheart-dosage would have fit this movie much more appropriately , and would have made the difference between me getting up the nerve to see it again some day and realizing that this is something i doubt i could endure again . 
masterful work marred only by excessive gore .