Recently I wrote about PULP FICTION, which I called the most influential film since its debut in 1994. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is second. Steven Spielberg's ode to the soldiers of World War II brought a level of realistic violence to mainstream media that hadn't been seen previously. BRAVEHEART had been bloody, but not like RYAN. The opening Normandy invasion sequence changed the way battle sequences have been filmed since. Gritty and brutal reality has become paramount in depicting the true nature of warfare. Many films have since copied the look with its faded colors and streaks of light across the screen, but none have matched its impact. But the visceral blood and gore isn't to shock per se, but to transport an audience into the reality of warfare where training and luck save lives, rarely does heroics.
The film begins with an old man visiting a cemetery where he flashes back to the landing on Omaha Beach. The hand of Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks, PHILADELPHIA) shakes as the boats approach the shore. Pitted against dug-in Germans, the savage slaughter begins the second the gates of transport boats open. Dozens upon dozens of soldiers die before even hitting the sand. The carnage is real with dazed soldiers searching the beach for missing limbs. As we watch Miller and his men try to advance up the beach, who lives and who dies seems based on who was in the right place at the wrong time. Upon succeeding at Omaha, Capt. Miller is given his new orders. The military has discovered that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family of Iowa have all recently died in battle and in an effort to save more heartache to their mother, Miller and his men will be sent to bring the youngest son James Ryan (Matt Damon, GOOD WILL HUNTING) home.
Miller's unit consists of seven other men: his tough right-hand-man Sgt. Mike Horvath (Tom Sizemore, BLACK HAWK DOWN); Brooklyn-born Pvt. Richard Reiben (Edward Burns, THE BROTHER MCMULLEN), who doesn't understand the logic of risking the lives of eight men to save just one; religious ace sniper Pvt. Daniel Jackson (Barry Pepper, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA); crap talker Pvt. Stanley Mellish (Adam Goldberg, DAZED & CONFUSED), who likes to rub his Jewish-ness in the German's faces; strong, but kind Pvt. Adrian Caparzo (Vin Diesel, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS); dedicated medic Irwin Wade (Giovanni Ribisi, SKY CAPTAIN); and cowardly translator Cpl. Timothy Upham (Jeremy Davies, RESCUE DAWN).
Along the way, they get pinned down by a German sniper in a ravished city, where they meet frustrated Sgt. Hill (Paul Giamatti, SIDEWAYS) and straight shooter Capt. Fred Hamill (Ted Danson, TV's CHEERS), and learn why saving lives doesn't always save lives in the end. Miller has to make many morally ambiguous decisions along the way, believing in the idea that for every soldier that dies 1,000 more lives are saved. He has lost over 90 men under his command and feels that weight on his shoulders. When they finally find Private Ryan, his reaction isn't what they might have expected.
In addition to the morality of taking and saving lives in war, two other ideas stick strongly in my memory. First is the harmful effects of cowardice in war. Fear may save your life, but it loses the lives of so many others. The second is the awesome power of the tank. The way Spielberg films and uses the sound of tanks is menacing, capturing their monstrous might against infantry soldiers.
Within brutal story of life and death, there is quite a bit of fine acting. Hanks plays Miller as guarded and private man who doesn't like to show his emotions to his men, while the guilt eats him up inside. Davies has never been better as the naïve war correspondent who is ill prepared for combat when his foreign language skills are needed. Ribisi also gives a career best performance as a caring man in an uncaring situation, determined to save lives when everyone else is determined to take them. Damon makes Ryan noble in an unassuming way, embodying the idea of a band of brothers. Sizemore, Burns, Pepper, and Goldberg add the right doses of color, and are each given moments to shine.
The randomness of war is something that unites all soldiers, no matter what war they have fought in. Soon after the film was released, I remember distinctly speaking to a Vietnam vet who stated that he never realized how bad the WWII vets had it. Many films had been made prior to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN dealing with the brutality of Vietnam, but most of the previous WWII films dealt with aggrandized heroics and not cruel reality. RYAN virtually made wars equal in a cinematic sense at least. All wars feature brave men doing their duty under harsh conditions. What differentiates wars is motive. Motives of nations, motives of superiors, and the motives of the soldiers fighting and possibly dying. Morality must trickle down from the top and give the man on the ground a reason to risk his life. This is not seen the same way for every war or for every soldier. In dealing with the realities and the complexities of war, Spielberg amazingly honors the soldier, but cautions us on motives for individual missions, even wars in general.
Buy "Saving Private Ryan" Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
