November 20th, 2008
Steven Spielberg
Short Response #11 – Film

I've never been a big fan of war movies. I've simply thought them to be unnecessary for me to see, never enjoyable; they rarely have uplifting plotlines, and I can't say that I prefer watching soldiers losing their arms to doubling over in laughter at a Will Ferrell monologue. But surprise, Steven Spielberg has managed to change my mind about movies once again and taught me to appreciate a movie outside of my genres of choice with Saving Private Ryan.
It was unquestionably the opening scene that did it for me. I have to say that it took me a few minutes to get into it; I had seen Forrest Gump a few days before watching this film, and I had a hard time imaging Tom Hanks with anything but that classic accent, speaking unforgettable one-liners (specifically, "Me and Jenny goes together like peas and carrots"). In fact, I may have been "that girl" to giggle during the beginning of Saving Private Ryan (for which I will be eternally embarrassed). But then the booms and bangs and dozens of other onomatopoeias shouted from my television, and I closed my eyes and the goosebumps came, and then the shivers began, and my eyes began to water, and then there was that extreme close-up of Tom Hanks' eyes and that's when I felt an inexplicable sadness, something that I'm not ready to delve into, but something that made me feel more patriotic than I've ever felt, actually profoundly, genuinely, cheesily proud to be an American.