<P> The film received widespread critical acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast, and crew, as well as earning significant returns at the box office . The film grossed $216.8 million domestically, making it the highest - grossing film of 1998 in the United States, and $481.8 million worldwide, making it the second - highest - grossing film of 1998 worldwide . The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Spielberg's direction won his second Academy Award for Best Director, with four more awards going to the film . Saving Private Ryan was released on home video in May 1999, earning another $44 million from sales . </P> <P> In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant ." </P> <P> In the present day, an elderly veteran visits the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial with his family . Upon seeing one particular grave, he falls to his knees overcome with emotion . The scene then shifts to the morning of June 6, 1944, as American soldiers land on Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy Invasion . They suffer heavy losses in assaulting German positions defended by artillery and machine guns . Captain John H. Miller of the 2nd Ranger Battalion assembles a group to penetrate the German defenses, leading to a breakout from the beach . Elsewhere on the beach, a dead soldier is face down in the bloody surf; his pack is stenciled Ryan, S . </P> <P> In Washington, D.C., at the U.S. War Department, General George Marshall learns that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family were killed in action and that the fourth son, James, has been parachuted somewhere in Normandy . After reading Abraham Lincoln's Bixby letter aloud for his staff, he orders that James Ryan be found and returned home immediately . </P>

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