This is one of the 10 war movies you must see in your lifetime and this is the perfect week to see it!

A few weeks before the start of the largest amphibious military operation in history, on June 6, 1944, German General Erwin Rommel, in charge of Army Group B based in Normandy, wrote to his wife. “The Allies must land, that is a fact. But the 24 hours before the invasion will be of the essence. It will be the longest day for us as Allies…”

Words that have since gone down in history, with particular meaning this week as we mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings. And a great opportunity to discover (or re-watch!) one of the ten best war movies ever made: Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

“I didn’t want to come with my team to glorify what happened. I tried to stay loyal and believe” said Spielberg about his film We have to save Private Ryan. The credo is simple: make an ultra-realistic and uncompromising war film. Light years from the longest day.

An unexpectedly successful bet with an anthology-filled film, including a 20-minute long Omaha Beach landing sequence, has already ensured the film’s pedigree. Filmed in Ireland with over 1,000 extras, including 250 soldiers from the Irish Army (and even around thirty amputees playing maimed soldiers), the result is truly mind-blowing, enhanced tenfold by exceptional sound effects work. Bullets that tear through flesh. That said, the final showdown, absolutely Dantesque, is nothing short of embarrassing in this film’s opening.

The director’s masterpiece, which won five Oscars, including Best Director and Best Cinematography (awarded to the great cinematographer Janusz Kaminski), has become an absolute landmark of the genre over the years.

A reference matrix for a whole generation of future filmmakers, even in the world of video games. Because you probably don’t know this, but we also owe Spielberg the idea for a game that will forever mark the history of FPS games: Medal of Honor, released in 1999 on the Playstation.