5) Saving Private Ryan
No recent movie, including Black Hawk Down, has decided the way war looks on film as much as Saving Private Ryan. The washed-out, documentary-like aesthetic in its opening D-Day chaos has become a blueprint style for any filmmaker wanting to convey the shocking experience of armed conflict. It’s Steven Spielberg in full-on genius mode, making pure, unadulterated cinema out of a harrowing landmark event.
The movie’s also an absolute sap-fest, beginning with the image of the American flag flying in the wind and ending with an elderly gentleman reminiscing about a group of fellow soldiers that died for their country.
Saving Private Ryan is difficult to watch in parts for its brutal violence, and hard to watch in others for its unashamed, hard-line, apple pie-fed patriotism.