Saving Private Ryan (1998) * * * *

Directed by:  Steven Spielberg

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Ted Danson, Dennis Farina, Harve Presnell, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies

Saving Private Ryan understands the nature and meaning of sacrifice.   It also depicts the hell of battle in all of its cruelty and realism.   The first twenty minutes of the film recount in harrowing detail the hellish D-Day invasion of Normandy.  Some soldiers are killed before they even get a chance to disembark from the pontoons.  Bullets whiz by.  There are explosions, fires, blood, mayhem, confusion, and death.   In between all of that, there is a plan to capture the beach head that must be followed regardless of casualties.   Medics try in vain to save soldiers who are spurting blood from various wounds.  Soldiers who lose limbs pick them up and carry them around.   Other wounded soldiers scream for help that may never arrive.   Somehow the beach is secured from German occupation by units like the one led by Capt. John Miller (Hanks) and whichever members of his platoon survived the onslaught.

After the fighting subsides, there is a closeup of a soldier lying dead on the beach.  His last name is Ryan.   In an administrative office far away from battle, a woman typing letters informing next of kin discovers three different letters going to the same address in Iowa.  Mrs. Ryan will receive notices on the same day that three of her sons were killed in battle.  This news reaches Army Secretary George Marshall (Presnell) who, after discovering a fourth Ryan son may still be alive in France, orders a squad to find the surviving Ryan and return him home.  Capt. Miller will lead the squad into the rugged terrains of rural France, searching for a private who may not even be alive and leading a group of men who wonder aloud why they are risking their lives to find him.   

Pvt. Rieben (Burns) is the most vocal in his displeasure over being assigned to find a needle in a stack of needles.   "This guy better cure a disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something," says Capt. Miller, who doggedly carries out the orders despite his personal doubts about the mission's wisdom.   This is the central conflict that makes Saving Private Ryan such a powerful film.   Pvt. Reiben sums up his objections perfectly: "Why is the Army risking the eight of us to save one guy?"   Capt. Miller's sentiments carry more resonance as members of his platoon are killed in skirmishes with German soldiers along the way.    Hanks' performance anchors the film.   He keeps to himself and follows orders, leading his platoon to create a betting pool awarded to the soldier who can get him to reveal what he did for a living as a civilian.   No one can.   His hands quake with what looks like the onset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.   

Miller, however, in a critical scene where he holds a German soldier's life in his hands, divulges his past and confesses, "The more I kill, the further away from home I feel."   An equally moving moment is when Miller, hiding from his platoon, breaks down in tears.      The performances don't reach for effect, but are grounded in authenticity and reality which makes the soldiers human above all else.   They are heroic, but carry fears and doubts, especially Cpl. Upham (Davies), who pisses himself at the thought of shooting a gun. 

When Ryan (Damon) is found, it is done by accident and is well-handled.   No dramatic "Dr. Livingstone, I presume," moment here, accompanied by music that drowns out everything else and tells you how to feel.   Ryan is distraught by the news of his brothers' deaths, but he also feels an obligation to complete his mission to hold a key bridge which the Germans will try and capture for their supply route.   "I'm going to stay with the only brothers I have left," he tells Capt. Miller.     Left with no alternative, Miller and his squad stay to assist in the defense of the bridge.   "Our objective is to win the war," he told his men earlier in the movie, and now he sticks to his guns even though some of the others would rather leave.  

The theme is sacrifice is most central to Saving Private Ryan.    The squad is sacrificing itself so Ryan can go home alive.     Ryan understands this all too well.     A dying soldier tells Ryan at a critical moment, "Earn This."    Those words stay with him all of his life and he reflects on them when he is seen as an old man visiting a cemetery in Normandy.     He has his family with him and, in front of the gravestone of the man who saved his life, declares that he has done his best to live up to the words  "Earn This."    He honors their sacrifice, as does the film.   

Saving Private Ryan is a technically superior, extremely moving film.    Spielberg has the unique ability to promote a message using the best technicians in the business to drive his point home.      The Oscar-winning cinematography by Janusz Kaminski uses washed-out tones to give the film an almost documentary feel.     John Williams, the best of all film composers, creates a memorable score.      Saving Private Ryan doesn't just document mind-numbing action sequences.    It creates a world where war has implications that reach far beyond the battlefield.