Saving Private Ryan

Time for another yearly Independence Day movie, and I got just the one for today: the 1998 war classic, “Saving Private Ryan.” The soldiers tasked to find Private Ryan and bring him home can figure things out on their own. The Army Chief of Staff has assigned them on the mission for misinformation reasons: Ryan’s return to help confidence on the homefront, and put a human face on the murders at Omaha Beach. His mother, who lost three sons in the war, does not want to lose another. However, the eight men on the mission also have parents – and have also been trained to kill Germans, not to put their lives on the line for publicity reasons. “This Ryan better be worth it,” one of the men yells.

In Hollywood, great battles twist and turn on the actions of protagonists. In Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” countless of scared and seasick men, most of them new to war, are thrown in the middle of dying German. The landing on Omaha Beach was not about saving Private Ryan. It was about saving your life.

Roger Ebert said in his review, “The movie's opening sequence is as graphic as any war footage I've ever seen. In fierce dread and energy it's on a par with Oliver Stone's "Platoon," and in scope surpasses it--because in the bloody early stages the landing forces and the enemy never meet eye to eye, but are simply faceless masses of men who have been ordered to shoot at one another until one side is destroyed.”

Spielberg’s camera makes no sense of the action. That is the reason for his style. For the individual soldier on the beach, the landing was a collection of noise, mud, blood, vomit and death. The scene is filled with so many unrelated things of time, like a soldier having his arm blown off. He staggers, confused, standing in the middle of gunfire, not sure what to do next, before bending over and picking up his arm, like he will need it later.

The landing part is needed to establish the distance between those who give the order that Private Ryan be saved, and those who are ordered to do the saving. For Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, and his soldiers, the landing at Omaha has been a trail of gunfire. For Army Chief George C. Marshall, played by Harve Presnell, in his Washington office, war seems far off and statesmanlike. Ebert noted, “He treasures a letter Abraham Lincoln wrote consoling Mrs. Bixby of Boston, about her sons who died in the Civil War. His advisors question the wisdom and indeed the possibility of a mission to save Ryan, but he barks, "If the boy's alive we are gonna send somebody to find him--and we are gonna get him the heck out of there." That sets up the second act of the film, in which Miller and his men penetrate into French terrain still actively disputed by the Germans, while harboring mutinous thoughts about the wisdom of the mission.” All of Miller’s men have worked with him before – except for Corporal Upham, played by Jeremy Davies, the translator, who speaks excellent German and French but has never fired a rifle in anger and is scared almost to the point of incontinence. Ebert said, “I identified with Upham, and I suspect many honest viewers will agree with me: The war was fought by civilians just like him, whose lives had not prepared them for the reality of battle.”

Ebert continued, “The turning point in the film comes, I think, when the squadron happens upon a German machinegun nest protecting a radar installation.” It would be possible to go around it and avoid a fight. Actually, that would be following orders. However, they decide to attack the emplacement, and that is one type of protest: At risk of their lives, they are doing what they came to France to do, instead of what the head authorities want them to do.

Everything leads to the third act, when Private Ryan is found, and the soldiers decide what to do next. Spielberg and his screenwriter, Robert Rodat, have done a delicate and actually great thing: They have made a philosophical film about war almost completely in the way of action. Ebert said, “"Saving Private Ryan" says things about war that are as complex and difficult as any essayist could possibly express, and does it with broad, strong images, with violence, with profanity, with action, with camaraderie.” It is possible to express even the nicest ideas in laymen terms and actions, and that’s what Spielberg does. The film is really effective, because he communicates his ideas in feelings, not words. Ebert admitted, “I was reminded of "All Quiet on the Western Front."” Steven Spielberg is as technically capable as any filmmaker today, and because of his great success, he can get any resource he needs. Both of those facts are important to the power of “Saving Private Ryan.” He knows how to show his feelings about men in war, and he has the methods, the money and the team to make it possible.

Ebert said, “His cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, who also shot "Schindler's List," brings a newsreel feel to a lot of the footage, but that's relatively easy compared to his most important achievement, which is to make everything visually intelligible. After the deliberate chaos of the landing scenes, Kaminski handles the attack on the machinegun nest, and a prolonged sequence involving the defense of a bridge, in a way that keeps us oriented. It's not just men shooting at one another. We understand the plan of the action, the ebb and flow, the improvisation, the relative positions of the soldiers.”

Then there is the human part. Hanks is a good choice as Captain Miller, an English teacher who has survived experiences that are so dangerous that he wonders of his wife will even recognize him. His hands shake, he is on the edge of breakdown, but he does his best because that is his job. All of the actors playing the soldiers under his command are great, partly because Spielberg resists the attraction to make them crazy “characters” in the tradition of World War II movies, and makes them ordinary on purpose. Matt Damon, as Private Ryan, displays a different energy, because he has not been through the landing at Omaha Beach. As a paratrooper, he landed inland, and although he has seen action he has not seen in the fire.

Ebert said, “They are all strong presences, but for me the key performance in the movie is by Jeremy Davies, as the frightened little interpreter. He is our entry into the reality because he sees it clearly as a vast system designed to humiliate and destroy him. And so it is.” His survival depends on his doing the very best he can, yes, but even more on chance. Eventually he gets to his personal turning point, and his action writes the last words of Spielberg’s unspoken philosophical argument.

“Saving Private Ryan” is a powerful film. Ebert said, “I'm sure a lot of people will weep during it. Spielberg knows how to make audiences weep better than any director since Chaplin in "City Lights."” However, crying is an incomplete response, letting go of the audience. The film symbolizes ideas. After the direct experience begins to fade, the suggestions stay and grow.

This is a powerful movie that is shot documentary style. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should see it because it’s an absolute must. I remember my siblings were watching this film when I was a kid, but they kept kicking me out of the room until my dad came and had to tell my siblings to explain to me that this movie has stuff that I shouldn’t see or hear at my age. When I saw it as an adult, I fell in love with it and understood what they were talking about. That’s why I say you should all see this movie because it’s a must.

Happy Independence Day everyone! Enjoy the fireworks today and I’ll see you all tomorrow on my first entry on what I will be reviewing this month.