The 15 minute journey into hell that was featured as the American forces stormed the beach at Normandy was perhaps the most riviting and horrifyingly true to life cinema that has ever been created. The audience is right in there amongst the carnage as bodies are being torn apart and young lives are lost in the most unnatural ways. I don't see any politics being played out here, just stark, naked reality. Although the actual occurrences of DDay outstripped these terrible scenes a thousandfold, from the accounts of surviving soldiers who were there, the film comes closer than any of it's predecessors. The story is secondary to the horrors lived out on screen and Spielberg outdoes himself as a director of visuals. The progression of this great director's career has been amazing. As his budgets rise, his films seem to grow exponentially.