Steven Spielberg's grisly realistic account of a squad of D-Day survivors sent behind enemy lines on a PR mission to rescue the last son of a devastated Iowa family. Tom Hanks gives a staggering performance as the squad's tormented leader, but be warned, the carnage is as explicit as it is persistent.
cast
Barry Pepper as Private Jackson Edward Burns as Private Reiben Giovanni Ribisi as T-4 Medic Wade Jeremy Davies as Corporal Upham Matt Damon as Ted Danson as Captain Hamill Tom Hanks as Capt. John Miller Tom Sizemore as Sergeant Horvath Vin Diesel as
quote
Medic Wade: Actually, the trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake.
Mellish: How is that, Wade?
Medic Wade: Well, when my mother was an intern, she used to work late through the night... sleep through the day. So the only time we'd ever get to talk about anything is when she'd get home. So what I... I used to do, I used to lie in my bed and try to stay awake as long as I could, but it never worked 'cause... 'cause the harder I'd try, the faster I'd fall asleep.
Private Reiben: Yeah well, that wouldn't have mattered none in my house. My ma, she would've come home, shook me awake, chatted me up 'til dawn. I swear that woman was never too tired to talk.
Mellish: That was probably the only time she could get a word in.
There is an eerie surrealism as we descend from the gloomy skies over Omaha beach. The redundant waves mercilessly beat upon the transport boats carrying the first wave of American soldiers, each silently staring at their inevitable destiny. Some begin to vomit, a combination of seasickness and fear that can only mean one thing, war. The date is June 6, 1944, otherwise known as D-Day, the single most important battle of the last great war. And as the US LCVP boats finally begin to drop their doors to let the soldiers pour out onto the beach, a cold shock comes over you. You are no longer watching a war film. You have been transported onto those boats, and all the horrors of war that you have only read about suddenly become reality. What ensues is the most ferocious and horrific sequences in all of film history. Bullets rip through the air with wanton lust, tearing apart the first three lines of troops attempting to make it to shore. The camera is jolted as if to suggest that there is nothing anyone can do to stop this madness. German 75mm machine cannons relentlessly bombard the shoreline as rounds tear through the backs of helmets and blow off limbs. This is not Hollywood's glamorization of death, this is death in its truest form. Bodies drop by the hundreds, completely limp upon impact from the bullets. Soldiers lie screaming on the sand with only their hands keeping their insides from falling out. Medics begin treating the wounded and before long, become the wounded. The shore is soaked red in blood, yet the Americans continue on. And for nearly half an hour this onslaught carries forth, until finally, the beach is taken.
