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¶ … Saving Private Ryan" and "Casualties of War" -- a Contrast of Two Wars
In our nation's history, there are no two more different wars than World War II and Vietnam. Our memories of World War II seem to be full of heroes, and the enemy was clearly evil. Heroes acted honorably and vanquished the enemy. It was easy to determine who won and lost a battle -- and the war. Our Vietnam experience is not so clear-cut. The heroes were not those who won battles, but informed on fellow soldiers about atrocities. Wars are never clean, but Vietnam was a particularly dirty little war.
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat, dealing with the World War II Battle of Normandy. The film is particularly notable for the intensity of the scenes in its first twenty minutes or so, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6, 1944. Thereafter it takes a very heavily fictionalized route built around the search for a particular member of the United States 101st Airborne Division. The general plot of the film, as the title suggests, is a humanitarian rescue mission led by John Miller, an army captain, played by Tom Hanks, to return the last surviving Ryan brother from the Normandy front line to his mother. "You...
Miller fighting to maintain his humanity while often giving in to his blinding fear and anger. Sometimes he makes the wrong decision, but then you have to deal with the question of exactly what the 'right' decision is when you're in the middle of a situation in which concepts like right and wrong don't apply."
The bond between Miller and his men is forged in the beachhead assault on a German bunker, where his decisive action saved the day. As the position consolidates, Miller is given his new assignment, to find a certain Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who had been parachuted in as a member of the 101st Airborne, which, as the film historically correctly asserts, was scattered widely across Normandy. Ryan is the sole surviving member of four brothers, the other three having been killed in action. The American command takes the decision to bring him back for his mother's sake. Miller is somewhat conflicted by the effort to save one man. As he says when talking about it, "He better be worth it. He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb."
Miller conceals his erstwhile profession of schoolteacher and his background from the troops under his command; the uncovering of Miller's background…
What Saving Private Ryan does extremely well, is show the world the harsh reality of war without pulling any punches. The story is told with competency and due reverence from all perspectives of the characters involved. It is an uncommon and intriguing drama, but it serves as an excuse to describe a setting, rather than the other way around. The story manages to move us through all sorts of different landscapes and scenarios, giving us an unforgettable glimpse of a world unknown to most of us, and terrifying to those who are familiar with it from personal experience.
Casualties of War is a 1989 movie about the Vietnam War, starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn, directed by Brian De Palma. The film is about how normal moral behavior is discarded during war times and shows it in the extreme when soldiers become savages who can dehumanize innocent by-standers. It is also about personal responsibility for maintaining that morality in extreme conditions. "It is built on a true story, and shows what a war can do with young people, when they are put under hard pressure."
A squad of American soldiers loses one of its
Saving Private Ryan After seeing Steven Spielberg's movie, "Saving Private Ryan," there's only one thing I have said to myself, that this is definitely a "must see" movie for all. From the beginning to the end, I have seen no movie that could compare to the elements that "Saving Private Ryan" had presented to its viewers. Steven Spielberg once again achieved his mastery in film making with his presentation of "Saving Private
Therefore, while the film depicts one of the most important elements of the war, it also symbolizes the personalities and strength of the men who fought in the war, and so, it is the epitome of a war film. It recognizes the individual and group effort that led to victory, and shows that even the most average men can be carried to greatness by the situation and necessity. The film
Leadership Styles -- Saving Private Ryan There are many films, plays, and even books that clearly illustrate effective leadership styles. Examples of films that reflect various leadership theories include, but they are not limited to, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, and The Thin Red Line. In this text, I focus on Saving Pirate Ryan. In so doing, I will highlight some of the leadership theories, traits, as well as qualities that
American History Through Film It is often agreed upon that there are different categories of history: the history that happened, the history created by historians and the history that people believe. Since the early 1920s, the American film industry has attempted to recreate history using films and television programs that aim to pass specific messages to viewers. War is often a fascinating subject for most filmmakers as it gives them an
Film Technique of 'Saving Private Ryan' Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg opens with a sequence that, to some degree, complies with "war drama" conventions. But the movie also possesses innovative elements, challenging the characteristic heroic notion of war. The director employs micro techniques like handheld camera use as well as other techniques that correspond to the documentary genre (e.g., on-location filming) for creating an intense feeling (realistic), making the war
This section has incredible sound editing with the camera bobbing up and down out of the water and the sound going from muffled to vibrant. Spielberg then gets to the beach and goes back and forth between individual shots of one or two men, and then wider shots of the full scope of the battle. This gives the view the sense of the personal and the large-scale event. Hanks'