5. Saving Private Ryan
Despite its overwhelming scale, Saving Private Ryan is an astounding accomplishment of storytelling. Barely a year into his role with Dreamworks, Spielberg created a nearly three-hour portrait of Europe in the waning weeks of World War II. He did this without once allowing the nightmare of the war to overtake the characters at its heart. Over 20 years later, the film’s opening 30-minute scene – detailing in documentary-like grit the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy – still stands as iconic war filmmaking.
Image Source: Taya Gray/Special to The Desert Sun