THE AISLE SEAT - "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN"
by Mike McGranaghan
It took about two minutes for me to become choked up by Saving Private Ryan. The film opens with an elderly veteran walking through a cemetery looking for a grave. I have no idea whether the actor served in the war himself, but the way he looks at that marker broke my heart. I lost it again about 7 minutes later when - during the film's recreation of the invasion at Omaha Beach - an anguished soldier searches for his severed arm. Once he finds it, he picks it up and carries it off. There are probably a dozen other scenes that caused me to become emotional, including the final scene which serves as a powerful reminder of what patriotism is, and what the cost of freedom was to those who fought to protect it.
Saving Private Ryan does for WWII what Schindler's List did for the Holocaust and Platoon did for Vietnam. It puts you right there in the center of history, re-creating events with unblinking realism. It is sometimes said that young people today don't understand the importance of WWII, or they don't take it as seriously as the older generations. If that is true, then this film should be required viewing for them.
Tom Hanks stars as Capt. John Miller. We first meet him as he and other troops head towards Omaha Beach on boats. They are cold, scared, and seasick. Some of them are vomiting. It is literally the calm before the storm, because once they hit the beach, they're at war. The invasion occupies the first 25 minutes of the film, and Spielberg uses hand-held cameras and high shutter speeds to create a sense of disorientation and chaos. If war is hell, this is its deepest level. The level of realism the film creates is staggering; it allows you to put yourself right there in the middle of it all.
Hanks and his troop survive the invasion, only to be given yet another crucial mission. They must find and rescue Private James Ryan, who is somewhere at Normandy. Ryan's three brothers have all been killed in combat, and his mother is due to receive all three notifications on the same day. The United States government, aware of the situation, wants Ryan sent home so that his family name can carry on.
Private Ryan himself is portrayed by Matt Damon. I won't reveal anything about his role in the plot. However, the movie follows the troop as they search for him, finding danger at almost every corner, and facing another grueling battle before the film's conclusion.
The troop consists of eight men, including a wisecracking guy from Brooklyn (Edward Burns), a young army medic (Giovanni Ribisi), and a timid map-maker/translator who just wants to get through the war without having to kill anybody (Jeremy Davies). It is one of the great cliches of war movies that the individual soldiers are defined by one character trait, a stereotype. Not here. For instance, we initially assume the Ed Burns character will just be comic relief; eventually we realize that this guy is seriously angry about having to find the missing private.
Burns also functions as the intellectual center of the story, asking all the right questions and bringing up the central issues: In war, what is the cost of saving one life? Is it worth it to risk the lives of eight men to save one? What constitutes heroism and what constitutes foolishness? Capt. Miller ponders these questions in the film, as he tries to mathematically provide an answer.
Saving Private Ryan is without a doubt one of the most graphic war movies ever made - and it needs to be. The combat scenes at the beginning and end are particularly gory, yet they serve as a reminder that people actually went through this ordeal. Casting Hanks in the starring role was a masterstroke. It's disconcerting watching Tom Hanks killing people on screen. That - along with a revelation about Miller's life back home - made me realize that the troops who served in the war were average people: fathers, brothers, sons, or in my case, a grandfather. They saw and did unthinkable things and paid terrible prices for an ideal they believed in.
Hanks is stellar in his role, and the rest of the cast is also superb. Edward Burns (an independent filmmaker best known for The Brothers McMullen) is terrific, giving a performance sure to launch him into the big leagues. I was also impressed by Jeremy Davies. His character is kind of a substitute for the audience; faced with the horrors of war, he is unsure if he will find bravery or crumble in fear. The actor conveys a lot of confusion without making his character a fool.
I could write all day about the things in Saving Private Ryan that moved me (and there are many). But I will let you experience them for yourself. Steven Spielberg has delivered another powerfully moving journey through an important historical event. By the time of the film's final image, I was in tears, thinking about all the people who have fought for my freedom. Saving Private Ryan is brilliant, patriotic, and incredibly moving.
(
out of four)
Return
to the Film Page
