Saving Private Ryan - The Art of War Essay

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 movie directed by Steven Spielberg about World War II Invasion of Normandy. This film, was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won many other awards among the cast, picture, and so forth. Spielberg did a great job on getting a lot of things correct to what happened in real life. Although, the movie isn’t entirely correct with certain scenes and topics.

Gen.   John J. Pershing   , a veteran of the Spanish-American War, commanded the AEF. The U.S. was far from prepared to send an army to the European front

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.

Saving Private Ryan is a movie that generates strong responses from most people that see it. While interviewing four individuals and reading three movie reviews, I found that each of my subjects would recommend it, not one of the individuals interviewed felt the violence was senseless, and all of them left the movie with a strong emotional response of some kind. It appears that Saving Private Ryan is the kind of movie to which many can relate.

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 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.

The notion of an American way of war informs how scholars, policymakers, and strategists understand how Americans fight. A way of war—defined as a society’s cultural preferences for waging war—is not static. Change can occur as a result of important cultural events, often in the form of traumatic experiences or major social transformations. A way of war is therefore the malleable product of culturally significant past experiences. Reflecting several underlying cultural ideals, the current American way of war consists of three primary tenets—the desire for moral clarity, the primacy of technology, and the centrality of scientific management systems—which combine to create a preference for decisive, large-scale conventional wars with clear objectives and an aversion to morally ambiguous low-intensity conflicts that is relevant to planners because it helps them address American strategic vulnerabilities.

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.

In the film, the soldiers fought very hard. They went through a lot in this war. They had to defend themselves and their territory. Often times they ran low on food and water. A ton of men died everyday when they were fighting. The soldiers had to deal with orders that were not necessarily smart orders. They had to protect themselves against Germany.

Saving Private Ryan is a film staged within World War II, during which an incredible mission to locate and bring home Private Ryan is launched in behind enemy lines within Europe. The return of Private Ryan is hoped to increase moral in the homeland and benefit combat efforts. Captain Miller is in charge of the reluctant team tasked with the rescue mission of Private Ryan, not knowing where he is at or if he is even alive. The company finally finds Private Ryan even after several enemy encounters and finding another soldier named “Private Ryan”. Once Private Ryan is located they give him the news that his three brothers were killed while fighting in the war. Private Ryan chooses not to go home and continues to fight in the war.

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)

The well-known World War II film, “Saving Private Ryan” opens with a veteran visiting Arlington Cemetery. He goes to a specific headstone and the scene changes to the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Under Captain Miller (Tom Hanks), a group of men fight to the shore to secure the beach, and during the fighting, three brothers are killed in action. When the United States learn of a fourth brother, they decide to send out Captain Miller and his men into enemy territory to find him and bring him back home.

This movie in some ways is very similar to Full Metal Jacket. Both films emphasize the experience of boot camp and the anticipation of battle. Unlike Full Metal Jacket, Hacksaw Ridge does a much better job at letting the viewer have a strong relationship with the characters. It also has many similarities to the film Saving Private Ryan. Hacksaw Ridge, takes place in the pacific theater while Private Ryan, takes place in the European theater. Both of the film's main characters are faced with extreme tasks that put their life and their fellow comrades lives at risk. Saving Private Ryan, and Full Metal Jacket, are both really good movies, although I could not see myself enjoying them if I watched them more than once. Hacksaw Ridge, has so much detail and so much is going on that it would be just as good the second time you watched it as it was the first time.

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.

Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan has been credited as being the most accurate war recreation film in history. It is the winner of five Academy Awards including Best Director for Steven Spielberg. Like Jaws, the opening scene has perfect equilibrium, calm at both the beginning and the end. Another thing this opening scene has in common with Jaws is the under water camera, and there are also shots from the killer’s point of view – in this case, the shooters’. In addition to this, they both end with calm water; a common theme in Spielberg’s openings. At the beginning of the scene, there is a long shot of a war cemetery; this drives home the seriousness of the war and just how many people died as it is very easy to forget the sheer number of people who were murdered during the war. The extreme close up on the eye of an old Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) gives the audience a feeling of connection with the character and lets them know he is going to have an important role within the film. During the fight scene the camera angles are wild movements and a handheld camera is used to give the effect of a person running as though it is from one of the soldiers’ point of view as this is likely to be something like what they would have seen and experienced. There are many visual effects such as one boat being set on fire with the soldiers still