Saving Private Ryan

If I were able to separate my opinions about this movie from my opinions about its topic, I would have to agree with the general consensus.  On every technical level, it was a masterwork; the performances, direction, cinematography, score, even the sound editing was clearly the work of someone at the top of her or his game.  And the screenplay was great, too I suppose.  Its only real sin was a deus ex machina moment that robbed the film of its dramatic potential.

But even in spite of all of these flawless elements, my overall reaction is summed up with "What in hell was the point of that macho bullshit?"  This is my problem with war movies in particular, and "Manly" genres--westerns, crime capers, police thrillers, and the like--in general: how tiny does a man's penis have to be to think that this is the way to behave?  To believe that honor and virtue equal nationalism and violence?  The truly great (by which I mean: those I enjoyed) representatives of these genres are those like Apocalypse Now (which mock the macho ideal) or High Noon (which turn it on its head).  Saving Private Ryan was not one of these. In spite of its claim to deglamourize war itself, it beyond glamourized the attitudes and societal expectations that make war possible.

I am clearly living in a bubble.  I acknowledge that.  War is real, and is likely to remain a dominant force in human history for as long as our race can hold off exterminating ourselves.  But to glamourize it, albeit artistically, has no particular appeal for me.