CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF:
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
Saving Private Ryan was directed by a very genius and great
director which is, Steven Spielberg. Mr Spielberg also directed many popular
movies such as The Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and many more. The movie was
released on July 24, 1998. Saving Private Ryan is 3 hours long of duration
but the intense scenes from the movie will always give “goosebumps” to the
audience when they watch the film. The film also starring great actors which
are Tom Hanks as the Captain Miller, Edward Burns as Private Reiben, Matt Damon
(won an Oscar award on 1997) as Private Ryan himself, Tom Sizemore as Sergeant
Horvath and Vin Diesel as Private Caparzo. After the 5 minutes into the movie,
the intense scenes already started where the German ambushed the United States
when they first step into the Omaha Beach. I personally think that this is the
best war movie because even though this movie was released in 1998, the
director, producer and editor managed to make it feels real for the audiences.
Other than that, this movie itself got 8.6/10 on IMDb website. Furthermore,
this movie also managed to insert the feelings of patriotism to its audience.
When I watch this movie, I can feel the sacrifices of the soldiers who fought
for our freedom long time ago.
This whole movie is about United States Army Rangers Captain John H.
Miller and his squad as they search for a paratrooper, Private First-Class
James Francis Ryan, the last surviving brother of three servicemen killed in
action. This movie also take place on 1944. However, the others kept
complaining and questioning on why do they have to go through “hell” for
Private James Francis Ryan. The squad have to go through warzone and pawn their
life for a private soldier just to tell him that he had lost his brothers who
were K.I.A (Kill in Action) during the war. But that’s what makes it
interesting and the patriotism shows when even though they knew that they could
get killed while on the mission, they keep on continue their journey because it
is a mission and orders from the higher ups. No matter how doesn’t make sense
it is, they completed the mission. However, Private Ryan refused to go home and
insisted to fight with his “brothers” (Brothers in Arms) to the death for his
country.
Since the movie is about the America vs German, there are some foreign
language such as Czech and German. However, it is interesting if we understand
what are they saying in their foreign languages. For example, the two
"German" soldiers who are shot trying to surrender were speaking
Czech. They were saying, "Please don't shoot me, I am not German, I am
Czech, I didn't kill anyone, I am Czech!" They were members of what the
Germans called Ost [East] Battalions, men, mostly Czech and Polish, taken prisoner
in eastern European countries invaded by Germany and forced into the German
army. But they were killed in the movie because the United States soldiers
could not understand what they are saying and starts mocking of what they said
before they died. If only they knew what the two “German” soldiers are saying,
they will feel bad for the rest of their live.
(The 2 "German" Soldiers)
Captain John H. Miller is the perfect example to explain the element of
Direct Characterization. Although in the film we could barely see the uniform,
the film directly shows that who is the captain in the squad. For example, in
the opening scene when the United States army almost landed on Omaha Beach, one
of the soldiers asked him “Are you okay Sir?” because his right hand is shaking
while he’s drinking. After that, he straight away give them the orders and
strategy to fight the German. However, speaking of uniforms, based on my
general knowledge and the critics, some of the paratroopers are shown wearing
black jump boots. All Army paratroopers in WWII were issued brown jump boots.
The Army didn't start using black leather for boots until the 1950s. Other than
that, some of the make-up, uniform and styles are incorrect in this film such
as, the "shaven" haircuts of the German soldiers in the movie are not
typical of the day. The hair styles were usually longer on top and shaved on
the side. Another example of mistakes in the film that caught my attention is, the
motorcycle/sidecar combo Miller rests on is a 1963 Ural M63. Which makes no
sense because the movie that place at 1944. Another mistakes that in the movie
is, in Neuville town, there is a car whose license plate number is 241 BG 50,
where 50 is for French department of the Manche. But this sort of numbers'
attribution on French cars began in 1950 ; number 241 BG 50 must have been
given in year 1954.
Other than that, in this movie there is some similar element which
indirect characterization. Audience argue that the character who come near to
this was Private Ryan himself. However, in my personal opinion, the characters
who suits the best for this element is the family who asked the squad to safe their
children. There is a family who asked the squad to safe his children right
before Private Caparzo was shot by a sniper. As for Private Ryan, we already
knew that he was a soldier since he has the Private rank for a soldier.
Although we do not know his face at the start of the movie, we already know
what he is. For the family that I mentioned earlier, we do not know about them.
They could be German soldiers who disguised as a family.
There were few great actors that I want to mention which are Tom Hanks
who played Captain Miller, Vin Diesel as Private Caparzo and Jeremy Davies who
played Corporal Upham. As for Tom Hanks, he did a great job playing the role of
a captain who gave orders and the emotion of a captain. No matter how strong a
man is there will always a weak moment for him. There is one scene that we can
see Captain Miller cries after the death of one of his squad that he considered
a friend. Even though he shows how strong and dedicated he is, the scene where
he cried broke my heart to pieces as I understand how he feels. As for Vin
Diesel, the scene where the moment of his death. He shows the feeling of pain
and the emotion of scared and sad. His struggle to take out the letter that he
wrote for his father to give to one of the soldiers from the squad. Lastly,
Jeremy Davies who played Corporal Upham. In this movie, Corporal Upham is not a
combat soldier, he is just a translator soldier. He can speak French and German
so Captain Miller hooked him into the squad to help them search for the Private
Ryan. At the end of the movie, we can see clearly that Corporal Upham is a
scaredy-cat. While the whole squads are shooting, killing and dying, we can see
Corporal Upham is hiding and crying besides the building. I got frustrated
because his role at that time is to help others with the ammo but he is too
scared. I’m so angry when he is too scared to help Private Mellish when he is
struggling fighting the German. The death of Private Mellish is Corporal Upham’s
fault.
As for creative element, the director and editor managed to make this
movie feels real by adding some sound effects such as gunshots and bombs. The
visual effect also makes it creative which the bullets flying in the entire
battlefield make it seems real. Other than that, the bloods, hands been cut off
and the intestines been coming out from a soldier body is terrifying but
creative. Director Steven Spielberg uses all of his talent and resources to
give to the world the greatest war film ever made. Though it's true that this
is not the type of movie you want to sit down with the family and eat popcorn,
the emotional drive of the picture, the story's poignant messages, and the
fantastic acting of the cast draws you into a world that is both dangerous and
unpredictable.
I just do not agree that everyone can watch this movie regardless of age
limit. In this movie, there are horrifying scenes which shows hands been cut
off and the intestines are coming out from a soldier body. This movie should
have been rated as 18SG because of the non-excessive violence/horrifying scenes.
This movie has the best ending ever, the satisfaction, the emotional
scenes and much more. I got emotional during the last scene in this film as it
really makes you feel for the character. When Captain Miller died was the
saddest scene in this movie. Thinking about his wife that is waiting for him to
come home after the war. However, the United States army won the war and they
achieved their objective. Great applause to the genius director, Steven
Spielberg.
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