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Saving Private Ryan

Howard Zinn’s anti-militarist perspective is a much needed corrective to the uncritical acclaim that has greeted Saving Private Ryan. In that movie, there is never any doubt that the cause is just. Vietnam led large numbers of Americans to question the enterprise of war itself. Now Saving Private Ryan, aided by superb cinematographic technology, draws on our deep feeling for the GIs to rescue, not just Private Ryan, but the good name of war. Spielberg could win an Academy Award. Did not Kissinger get a Nobel Prize? The committees that give prizes are, too often, innocent of social conscience. However, we are not bound to honor their choices.

motion picture reviews — Saving Private Ryan

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 25, No. 3 (1998): 138-140