Saving Private Ryan

No war film hit harder than this.

In the 1998 movie Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks leads a squad through war-torn France to bring a young soldier home, beginning with a visceral D-Day landing that redefined screen combat.

Praised for its brutal realism, the film won Spielberg his second Best Director Oscar.

He said: “I wanted to show the courage of ordinary people who did extraordinary things.”