10 Best Spielberg Blockbuster Movies - Ranked

Spielberg broke his own mold here, with a film that is utterly harrowing in its depiction of WWII.

While there had certainly been WWII films made before this, none had ever been made like this. From the Normandy beach opening, Spielberg had the audience completely in the palm of his hand with a gripping and visceral portrayal of war, so realistic that theaters across the country reported real-life veterans having PTSD-relate anxiety attacks during screenings.

Rather than opt for a hyper-stylized representation of the battle, Spielberg eschews his won stylistic preferences and goes for a much less-omniscient, shaky-cam aesthetic that is meticulous and precise in just how out of control it is.

Made five years after his seminal holocaust drama, Schindler's List, you can see Spielberg still very openly grappling with the demons of the past. The film is so affecting and real precisely because of Spielberg's very real emotions behind it; he is chronicling the true horrors of what an action sequence truly is and the collateral and aftermath that results from it.

The end result is a shocking film that is profoundly powerful.