SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
Watching "Saving Private Ryan" was a gut wrenching experience! The movie triggered emotions, and memories of friends and family, both living and deceased, that had as much to do with my reaction to the movie as the visceral images that fills Steven Spielberg’s latest undertaking: a tribute to the men whose sacrifice on June 6, 1944, and the whole of World War II is incalculable.
Spielberg links past and present with a visit by a survivor of the Normandy Invasion to the graves of those who died there. The crosses and grave stones stand tall and are match cut to the angular cut steel struts lining the beach, over 50 years earlier, waiting for the first troops in the D Day invasion force to crucify themselves on their outstretched limbs. The symbolism ends here.
"Saving Private Ryan" gives an adrenaline pumping, grunt’s-eye view of war that defies description. The first half hour is a dizzying mix of horror and wonder that manages to be repulsive and awe inspiring at the same time. I dare anyone to forget the images of GIs drowning in a blood soaked Atlantic, bullets whooshing through their bodies in a silent void, others trying to escape the watery grave, gasping for air, only to find another way to die on the beach, so their bodies can be used to shield others from the enemy’s bullets. Medics flit from body to body trying to perform miracles on the wounded, some with their stomachs blown open, others with their limbs shot off. The ones that do reach their objectives - the machine gun nests and the concrete bunkers with their heavy artillery that stretch across Normandy’s high ground - and wipe them out, move on to the next objective. For Captain John Miller(Tom Hanks) and his handpicked squad, that means finding one Private James Ryan of the 101st Airborne, whose three brothers were recently killed in action, one at Normandy itself.
"Saving Private Ryan" moves on to the next level with an historical link to the Civil War in the form of a letter of bereavement written by Abraham Lincoln to a mother who lost five sons. It draws a parallel between the sacrifices made to preserve the Union and those needed to save the world from Nazi domination. The text of Lincoln’s message is divulged to the audience in a heartfelt reading by General George Marshall in the War Dept. The idea of family as the backbone of our nation becomes the major theme of the movie that gives added weight to Captain Miller’s mission - to find Private James Francis Ryan of Iowa who is part of the advance force who parachuted into enemy territory before the actual invasion and send him home to lessen his mother’s pain.
The invasion scene not only puts us in the bowels of battle, but helps explain the attitude of Miller’s squad who see their new mission as an insult to the friends who were just killed on the beaches of Omaha. At first, ‘Private Ryan’ starts out as just a name to be reviled and made fun of. Soon, the mission leads to dissension, and then self discovery. Their journey into enemy terrain, and the skirmishes that plague them, allow each man to reveal a fabric of his personality, from the professional soldier Master Sargent Horvath to the linguistic clerk, Corporal Upham, who has yet to prove himself in battle. They have to deal with false leads , snipers, bombed out civilians, their own prejudices, and battle fatigue. Ultimately, they find their Private Ryan, and the remnants of a Panzer division that must be stopped at all costs, even at the cost of their mission. A sentiment that reverberates back to Lincoln’s letter.
The final battle between man and machine and the hand to hand combat that follows is as relentless, and compelling as anything that Steven Spielberg has ever put on film. Ultimately, I was emotionally drained and all cried out by the time he cuts back to modern day Normandy to reveal the name of the visitor at the gravesite, and an image of an unsaturated American flag symbolically drained of its blood red stripes that first appears at the beginning of "Saving Private Ryan", begging the question - If not for their sacrifice, where would we be today?
It has always been my contention that one’s reaction to a movie has as much to do with one’s life experience as it does with the story telling skills of the directors or writers who ply their trade on the big screen. I don’t think anyone who has a father, grandfather, uncle or elderly family friend who served in World War II will look at them the same way after seeing "Saving Private Ryan". One can discuss Spielberg’s technique, or point out the pitfalls in Robert Rodat’s script(which are few), but any discussion is superficial compared to the overall emotional impact of the movie. It will be some time before I can hope to look at it objectively because so much of my own experience as a Viet Nam veteran is vested in my reaction to it. "Saving Private Ryan" struck a raw nerve like no other movie I’ve seen in years. Needless to say, "Saving Private Ryan" will enter the pantheon of great American war films.
Rental Suggestions
Two timeless war movies from the silent days.
"The Big Parade"(1925) - Dir. King Vidor
"Wings"(1927) - Dir. William Wellman - First Oscar winner for Best Picture
Two classics on two World Wars from one director - Lewis Milestone
"All Quiet on the Western Front"(1930)
Some cult classics on World War II
"Attack"(1956) - Dir. Robert Aldrich
"The Big Red One"(1980) - Dir. Sam Fuller.
The Big One from Producer Darryl Zanuck
"The Longest Day"(1962), an overview of the D Day invasion, full of historically accurate vignettes, based on the best selling book by Cornelius Ryan.