Saving Private Ryan Essay

The film Saving Private Ryan, is about a United States Army Captain (CPT) and his chosen squad that are tasked with locating and recovering Private (PVT) Ryan, after the news of his three brothers’ deaths reaches the Army. The CPT chooses a few specific men to aid him with this mission.

The mission to save Private Ryan, the names of the soldiers, and the names of smaller battles were fictional. The final battle of the movie at “Romelle” did not happen, and Romelle is actually a German Field Commander during World War II. There was no Captain John Miller of the 2nd Rangers either. The mission to find the fictitious character, Private Ryan, never happened but Private Ryan was modeled after a soldier named Frederick “Fritz” Niland from the 101st Airborne Division. Niland was one of four brothers and his other three brothers were killed in the war. His mom received the death notifications all at once, and Niland was sent home to the U.S. There was no record of a rescue mission for Fritz Niland.

The film showed me a lot about the horrors of the war. It was a very hard and long war.

A worthy movie about a person’s life, especially one that involves war has to be convincing. Therefore, the actor has to be compelling in portraying the authenticity of the character, in addition to the scenes being true to the actual event, place and time. More importantly, the story is essential as a true drama is one classified as the hero dying or making you feel sad. I saw American Sniper as soon as it came out and could was amazed. The criteria for an unforgettable movie is the actors, the story, themes, box office sales. Not to mention, how the movie affects the audience is what raises the bar on this movie.

Ryan’s face to a big close up of his eyes. It then cuts to a deep

table on the way down. Ryan had by now found his friend and asked him

I read the section about the battles that took place during WWII. It brought to my minds that in real life. There are more important things during a war than finding a private Ryan. War is a huge event and the little things like finding a person to keep the family name going is too small to include in war history. This is what separates the movies from the real life. Another difference is they don't show the actual planning it takes to start an attack or the inelegance that is needed to set up the perfect defense barrier to prevent the advancement of the enemy soldiers. A real battle can last days, weeks, months, or years, compared to movie war that lasts not even a day and has one guy or one platoon take on the entire other side. The casualties of real war is tremendous, rather than movies where you see almost the same characters in the whole movie accomplishing some of the most intense tasks with only one or two dying. Also, in movie war you don't see the other side's horror. You think all the opponents are bad horrible people that deserve to die, when they are just soldiers doing their job and the only reason we are fighting them is because of a bad leader or government. So in the movies every enemy deserves to die and should be shown no mercy, but the actual thing about that is that the enemy is just like any other soldier. And furthermore when the good guys lose a battle in a

Saving Private Ryan has been a huge commercial success since its release in 1998. According to Boxofficemojo.com, Saving Private Ryan’s worldwide gross is $481,840,909 with over half that just from the domestic US market alone. Not only was this film a financial success, it is also critically acclaimed. The film has won 79 awards; five of those are Oscars, and another 62 nominations for just about every category that there is to be nominated for. More recently Saving Private Ryan was awarded a place on the National Film Presentation Board in 2014. (IMDB)

While watching this film you may find yourself experiencing some of the same emotions as the characters in the film this allows you to be in the movie letting you be a part of an important event in our history. This is what makes the film so unique. Its full of different scenarios that keep you wondering what is going to happen next. I think that this film is a very close representation of what WWII was really like.

There is one scene where the three flag raisers entered a crowded stadium before a football game which typified how an image of war can be so different to the reality of war. The flash photography, the cheering, the roar of the crowd all went to John Bradley’s head and he had flash backs of the fighting on Iwo Jima and the genuine heroes that he had left behind. This scene contrasts what the reality of war, were all the men are dug in and fighting for there life, and the images of war. Ira Hayes says “I know it’s a good thing, raising the money and that, ‘cause we need it. But, I can’t take them calling me a hero. All I did was try not to get shot. Some of the things I saw done, things I did, they weren’t things to be proud of, you know?” Clint Eastwood shows continuously, through his characters physiology shows how one single photo can be so different what really makes up the battle of Iwo Jima. The aim was to get war bonds; the minds of the three main characters through Clint Eastwood’s directing showed a strong insight to how the reality of a war and an image of war can be so contrasting.

The plot of Saving Private Ryan illustrates a dramatic war movie by depicting all the stages that a war veteran experiences. Private James Ryan and Captain John Miller were chosen to undertake those emotions and experiences. Towards the beginning of the film, the point of view switches from Ryan to Miller when Ryan has a flashback to WWII. Through Miller’s eyes the audience experiences the pure horror of World War II. Saving Private Ryan shows the battles of Normandy beaches where more than 10,000 American troops died alone. Spielberg used this scene in particular to show the raw

We return to the present and we see Ryan questioning whether he was a good man and made the most of his life for the sake of those soldiers who laid their life down for his. His wife reassures Ryan that he honored their memory. The ending presents itself as a perfect ending, even though many died for Ryan he did not squander the opportunity granted to him and he upheld their memory. In the end it was a perfect Hollywood blockbuster, everything happened for a reason and it was a beautiful story filled with friendship, hardship, loss, and love. Those are the characteristics we use to romanticize war, a journey full of loss, hardships, and friendship that in the end there is peace.

In 1998, Spielberg came out with Saving Private Ryan, which captured war in gory and shocking detail as his soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy. This again shows his willingness to deal with larger, more serious issues.

This movie doesn't jolt the viewer into having a greater feeling of patriotism afterwards, but it does reaffirm their support for the troops and however much patriotism they felt beforehand.

Saving Private Ryan is a theatrical masterpiece that incorporates many universal themes that almost all people can relate to. The movie follows a squad of U.S. soldiers as they battle through the trenches of World War II. Directed by the great Stephen Spielberg, the movie is claimed by many to be the most accurate presentation of war in any movie to date. The movie includes several themes that helps captivate the audience and truly help people understand just how horrible war is. The idea of losing loved ones frightens even the toughest of us, and being lost in a foreign land scares many others. Both of these themes are thoroughly explored and propelled onto the audience to experience. The extremely accurate depiction of war, the universal themes that everyone can relate to, and the film being a theatrical masterpiece are all reasons why everyone should watch Saving Private Ryan.