Thankfully, I was never in a combat theater during my service, and it was difficult even for me to sit through it. In fact, I had to leave the room during landing sequence the first time I rented it and left my wife to watch it alone. I came back in just as Mellish was fighting the Waffen SS soldier, which was also tough. I had to wait two years to make myself watch it all the way through. Now I’ve seen it a half-dozen times and it’s my favorite film, but still hard to watch every time.

i think it was a effective way in the film to frame the entire story.

Although I feel the need to point out an error in the article. An entire platoon was not sent to search for Ryan.  An American infantry platoon during World War II was about 40 men.  A squad was approximately 12 men.  The eight men in the group sent to search for Ryan was roughly equal to a small patrol.

Nevertheless, it can still be questioned if even that number of men would have been sent, or indeed, if any.  However, it is extremely unlikely, in my opinion, that a captain, or any officer, would have been assigned to lead such a mission in any case.  It would have been more likely led by a technical sergeant (a sergeant first class or E-7 in today’s army) or a staff sergeant.  Spielberg is a WW2 enthusiast, but he’s never demonstrated much knowledge of military structure.

As a military historian and a film buff, I think SPR is the most realistic portrayal of World War II combat that has so far been produced and it’s currently my favorite film. The only criticism I have is that the Americans got past the German beach defenses much faster in the movie than in real life, but I know that for a motion picture it had to be portrayed that way.