Why this lost the Best Picture Oscar.
I do agree that this should have won the Oscar for best picture of 1998. This was far better than Shakespeare In Love. But I did some analyzing and here are the reasons (I think) SPR lost. (These are mostly reasons why )
-Saving Private Ryan is extremely brutal and violent. You can understand why some Academy members would not vote for this. But that didn't stop them from Braveheart or Platoon!
-Saving Private Ryan has no complexity. It is just a simple, straight-forward story of a platoon trying to capture a private. Despite being amazing as heck, this had one of the weakest stories of the year.
-Thin Red Line. Thin Red Line is another WWII epic from 1998 that rivalled Saving Private Ryan. Twin movies like these are always feuding. It wouldn't have been fair to award won but not the other.
-Shakespeare In Love was worthy of winning the gold. If Saving Private Ryan did not come out in 1998, Shakespeare In Love would have been a very worthy winner.
-Shakespeare In Love has more to it. Despite Saving Private Ryan begin better, Shakespeare In Love had the better dialogue, better music, a wider range of emotions, stronger character development, better sets, better costumes, awesome allusions.
-Look at how many WWII movies came out before Saving Private Ryan that won the gold. Look at how many Shakespeare movies have won the gold.
-It is rare for the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars to go out to different films. While Saving Private Ryan was easily the hardest film to make, voters wanted Shakespeare In Love to take something home too.