Movie Review: Saving Private Ryan
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I enjoy learning about American history as well as watching movies that portray big events in our nation’s past. For this reason, I was eager to watch the movie Saving Private Ryan for the first time. Before watching, I have heard from numerous sources that this movie is a must watch. Combined with the fact that I’m a fan of basically anything Tom Hanks stars in, I gave this classic war movie a watch and was not disappointed.
Saving Private Ryan was written by Robert Rodat, directed by Steven Spielberg, and released in the summer of 1998. It follows U.S. Captain John Miller, played by Tom Hanks, as he leads two missions. The first occurred at the very beginning of the movie, and was a scene that I was very excited to see for the first time after hearing so much praise from film critics, historians, and World War II veterans alike about how realistic the battle scene was. This of course, was the scene where Capt. Miller led his men on the mission to storm Omaha Beach in Normandy on the infamous D-Day.
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The 23-minute long scene shows the arrival of the Allied troops at Omaha Beach, while constantly under opposing gunfire as they stormed the beach. The scene leaves out no details and to say it is intense is an understatement. As it finally comes to an end and the red ocean tides crash into the shore, you almost feel like you need to hit “pause” on the movie to take a short breather and regather yourself before continuing. In fact, at a special screening of the film, movie historian Stephen Ambrose had to ask for the movie to be paused during the intense scene so he could step outside for a few minutes and compose himself. In my opinion, it’s a scene that I think everyone should see so they realize the bravery and sacrifices that were made throughout the war.
After the intense D-Day scene is over, the movie settles into its plot. And this plot revolves around Capt. Miller’s second mission, which is exactly like the title of the movie suggests: saving Private Ryan. Back in the United States, as death letters are being typed to be delivered to the families of those who lost a loved one in the war, it is realized that within a very short span the Ryan family has lost three of their four sons fighting in the war. General George Marshall, after reading a letter from Abraham Lincoln to others in the War Department who had doubts, ordered for the fourth son, Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), to be brought home. It would simply be too difficult on the Ryan mother to have lost all four children. The problem though, was that James Ryan’s whereabouts were relatively unknown.
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Tasked with finding Private Ryan so he could be brought back to the United States, Capt. Miller chose seven of his men to track him down. Some were willing to go without questions while some resented the task of putting their lives in danger to track down one man. “Why was his life more important than theirs?” they found themselves asking. Nevertheless, the mission began and leads viewers of this movie on a very interesting journey that provides valuable insight to things that occurred throughout the war.
As you can imagine, it was a very difficult journey, especially to find one soldier whom they didn’t exactly know the location of. Battles with German soldiers ensued, frustrations/angers flared, and sacrifices were made all for one goal: to save Private Ryan.
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This movie is not a short one, at 2 hours and 49 minutes long, but I must say you will not get bored with it. Going into the movie, my plan was to watch half of it before stopping it to do something else, and finish the second half of it later that day. But I found myself not wanting to stop it at any point and instead watched the entire thing through. It is captivating from every angle, from the storyline to the acting and the action.
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The thing that drew me in the most was the realism. I knew going into the movie that it was praised for its realism, so as I watched the movie and witnessed its intensity, I felt like I was privileged enough to take a trip back in time and take in small parts of the actual second World War. There have been many veterans who have congratulated Steven Spielberg on the authenticity of the film, while many other veterans respectfully couldn’t finish watching it because of the same reason.
Lastly, and this goes without saying for any Tom Hanks movie, but the acting was great. Hanks was fantastic like always and was the perfect choice to play such a pivotal and emotional role. But the surrounding characters were great as well. While Hanks portrayed the charisma you would expect to see out of a leader, his soldiers did a great job of portraying themselves as normal people like you and me who didn’t mind sharing their dissenting opinions about given orders. It was easy to see yourself in their shoes and imagine the possibility of that being you, if you had been around 18-25 years of age in the early 1940s. To me, this is a great movie for the entertainment value, but more importantly, for helping provide the ultimate respect for those who bravely fought/fight for this country to ensure we all have the freedom that we couldn’t live without. This is a must watch for everyone.
Rating: 5/5
Garett