The film’s battlefield scenes, from the D-Day invasion to later skirmishes to take a pillbox or hold a bridge, are shot from an infantryman’s perspective and are filled with dirt, destruction, noise, chaos, confusion, death, and injury. The soldiers portrayed are not dichotomized into heroes and villains, but as regular guys, scared, but attempting to do their duty as soldiers without unnecessary risk. Their motivation is not so much patriotism to their country or determination to eliminate tyranny as it is to stay alive, be true to their squadron buddies, follow orders, and not embarrass themselves or their families. While they realize that the invasion is vitally important to the world, they also know that they do not and sometimes simply cannot understand how their individual orders relate to that larger effort, so they gripe, they wonder, they philosophize, and they joke, so that they do not focus for too long on the danger they face and the death and pain their action or inaction may cause to themselves, their fellow soldiers, the enemy, and the non-combatants they encounter. Their mission, to save a soldier whose three brothers all just died in battle, frustrates and perplexes them on many levels, but they don’t let the fact that they may not understand or agree with its importance stop them from doing their duty or from doing what they can to help the larger war effort in the course of their mission.

All of this makes the viewer think about war and war is an important thing to have given some reflection in the course of your life. What wars are justified? When should they be fought? How should they be fought? What effects do they have on politics, on economics, on property, on the lives of the combatants, on the lives of those back home, and even on science? (One of the better lines in Armageddon was the President’s statement that "everything man has done, even the wars he has fought, has given him the means to stop the approaching asteroid.") It is glib and naïve to say that wars simply should not happen and are always an evil waste of life. It is immoral testosterone-laden macho nonsense to use violence as the automatic response to every infraction and every slight (whether current or historical). And, while waging war effectively requires study and science and an ability to distance oneself from the individual violence it inflicts (without becoming callous or indifferent), it is both trivial and blasphemous to treat it solely as a strategy game. And unless you understand something about war, it is really hard to understand honor and sacrifice and altruism and patriotism, notions that seem dated and cornball in today’s cynical, self-centered world, but notions that have inspired young men and women to do what had to be done to make our life what it is. Because many veterans do not speak of their war experience (whether because it is too horrible or simply too difficult to convey the experience to others who have not been forced to live through such extreme conditions) and because of the advancing age of World War II veterans, this movie is important because it speaks for them—not to give a particular point of view, but simply to make one think about a vital, but extremely unpleasant subject.

I say all of this, I admit, as an outsider—someone who has thought about war but has thankfully never experienced it. Viet Nam was in full swing during my high school years and the topic of a lot of conversation and thought. I even looked through some Navy recruiting brochures. Strange though it may seem to some of you, however, I trusted Nixon to get us out by the time my draft came up and, sure enough, the all volunteer army came along just as I turned 19 (I was also lucky in the back-up selective service lottery held for my "year", as my birthday came in 356^th out of 366, but even my friend, Rich, whose birthday was drawn 1^st never got drafted). I also know that if called, I would have gone. Although not an athletic or very physical person, I believe that one of the main proper functions of government is to make the tough decision about when military force is necessary and then have the will to use it. I also believe, horrific though they are, that the world has gained much (almost a half-century and counting of relative peace) from the existence of nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Despite such hawkish views, I am very grateful that my parents did not have me 19 to 22 years before a major war. Those of you who may be interested in how these thoughts can apply to fantasy role-playing games might want to read my piece in AD&D’s Forgotten Realms Elminster’s Ecologies: Appendix I on the "Battle of Bones".

This brings us to the gaming tie-in for this month’s movie—the usefulness of real world experience in fantasy role-playing. Granted, watching Saving Private Ryan in a cushioned chair with a bucket of popcorn and a jumbo soft drink is not war, but it is as close as many out there will ever get to the real thing. And seeing what the real thing is like can give quality and nuance and depth to your gaming, both in terms of your roleplaying an individual engaged in battle and in terms of understanding how tactics and strategy get implemented (or fail to get implemented) in the real world. And even though I know most roleplayers are playing larger-than-life fantasy heroes (not infantry grunts (dogfaces, as they were known in WW II)), experiencing some things that your character may encounter can be very instructive. No, I don’t want anyone out there to do anything violent, dangerous, or illegal, but even some pretty mundane activities can be very helpful. From engaging in a paintball shoot-out (properly attired and protected) in the hilly woods near your home, to simply visiting a park or wilderness area, it quickly becomes apparent that many players portray PCs with no comprehension as to what their PCs are really facing. If you see what a cave is really like when the Ranger turns off the lights or climb a hill with full backpack or dip your hand into the numbing coldness of a mountain stream or look over the (fenced) edge of a deep ravine or stand on the tip of a glacier or walk through the woods in the dark or experience from how far away a small campfire can be seen in an unpopulated area, you will play your PCs better and be able to more vividly describe a scene (aloud) as a DM or (in print) as an author. For example, my presentation of one caving passage in the "Beneath the Twisted Tower" adventure in the Shadowdale volume of AD&D’s Forgotten Realms Boxed Set was heavily influenced by an actual passage in Jewel Cave that is ¼ mile long and about the size of the average tri-fold DM screen. No, I didn’t go through it—having a "gamer’s build", I could not even squeeze through the concrete test passage they use to screen spelunkers—but it still made an impression that I can easily bring to mind when I play a dungeon-crawl adventure.

Enough said. Next month, I promise to review something totally frivolous. This review is, after all, carried in a comic book.