Spielberg has always been a phenomenal filmmaker in my opinion, and this has to be one of the best war films ever made. It’s gritty, it’s frustrating, it’s real, it hurts. It brings into the light in a very unique way what those men did in the invasion of Normandy to begin the taking back of Europe from the Germans (I don’t say Nazis here. I know many Germans in the army weren’t Nazis).
The realism in the film of the sacrifice those men suffered on Omaha beach was stunning. And of course, Spielberg wasn’t afraid to show the real violence and gore of what happened there. I know the other beach invasions on D-Day were terrible as well, and I certainly don’t want to downplay the aspects of those assaults, but we’re talking about a film that focuses on Omaha. The gore, the hopelessness, the desperation – all that I felt on a very visceral level the first time I viewed this film. It was disturbing and made me thankful for those men who did the unthinkable. I’m sure Spielberg took some liberties with the actual story, which is fine with me. I don’t know if there really was a mission to rescue the last son of a mother who’d lost three already, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the realism of the film.
The scene in which Private Mellish (Adam Goldberg) and the German soldier fight hand-to-hand, while Corporal Upham does nothing to help, disturbed me for weeks. It was a sublime piece of writing and film making.
I watched this film with my then ten-year-old son. I warned him it would be gory and scary, but he wanted to see what it was all about. He sat in one beanbag chair, and I sat in another one. By the time the men got to the shingle and discharged the bangalores to breach the shingle, my son was in my beanbag chair with me, holding onto me. He was a little afraid. I told him afterwords that this really took place. Men were brave and cowardly, but they ultimately succeeded in moving into France. He asked me, “Why do men fight wars?” That was a hard question to answer. I told him that some men desire power, land, resources, and spreading their own culture/religion/political beliefs they believed to be true and should be forced on other people. He got that. He’s a pretty smart little guy. He said that was stupid. All people should live as they pleased. I agreed with him. Spielberg helped me teach him that lesson. ‘Nuff said.
Brady's Cellar 