I consider "Saving Private Ryan" to be a typical Hollywood war film.....one that could be a genuinely great film but winds up just being really hokey.
There are a couple of scenes in the film which are so very well done as they show what War is really about.....and explain the true cost of War.
The one scene is when Ma Ryan sees the Army Staff Car enter the Farm Lane and she knows what it means....and she collapses knowing one of her Son's is dead. It doesn't matter to her which one....just that she has lost a Son.
How many times has that kind of thing happened over the ages.
The other scene that just breaks my Heart every time I see it.....is Old Private Ryan and his extended family entering the Cemetery seeking the Captain's grave.
Every single one of those Grave Markers represent one of those families that could have been but were not.
That to me is the true cost of War.
We are seeing the same thing today but fortunately on a much smaller scale than in some other Wars but that doesn't diminish the loss our Military Families suffer when it happens to them!
We pay respect to our Men and Women who are killed and wounded.....but we should also remember their families as well.