6. Saving Private Ryan
Many of the films on this list use their blood for almost ridiculous purposes. The aforementioned American Psycho and Scarface ladle the stuff on to show how heightened the lives of their lead characters are. In Saving Private Ryan, however, Spielberg, as opposed to the roller-coaster red stuff of Jaws, uses the blood to devastating effect as we witness the true horror thousands upon thousands of people went through on those beaches in World War II. The film primarily follows Captain John H. Miller and six men from his company as they attempt to find and rescue the title character after Private Ryans three brothers are killed on the front. The film follows the men as they traverse the violent countryside and towns of France in a desperate attempt to save the last brother before a final battle to defend a bridge in Ramelle. Not only is the film itself a revelation in war film-making it is the violent, visceral and deeply upsetting opening half hour which changed the way cinema looks at war. When the film was first released, audiences were genuinely shocked at the depiction of the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach. Men mown down even before they can step on the beaches, explosions tearing soldiers apart and shell-shocked men trying to rescue their own body parts. It is a devastating opening which numbs the audience and, whereas some films cant quite match their opening halves (Full Metal Jacket?) Saving Private Ryan needs the often silent walk through French fields because, just like Miller and his company, we need time to process the horrors weve just witnessed. An intelligent, upsetting and violent film.