Saving Private Ryan, a World War II movie based on the search for Private Ryan (Played by Matt Damon), a woman's last son of four still alive. This movie is known for it's gory, intense opening scene where the Americans land on Omaha Beach, Normandy in an attempt to take over the German forces. Tom Hanks plays the commander of the mission named John H. Miller who experiences many different thoughts and feelings throughout the scene.
In The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, he talks about what a true war story is and describes many experiences that men go through in war. He says the experiences that soldiers go through are "beyond telling" and some things are a "question of credibility." This film silences and slows down at one critical point where you get to see what is going on in John Miller's mind as he watches men die and suffer. The movie also shows men in a dazed numbness where they can not believe the horror in front of them. I think this movie really brings out those type of experiences in war that are too hard to keep in the minds of those that watched them in person. I also felt like many of the relationships that were described in Tim O'brien's stories were absent in this film. War is a horrible place where nobody should be, but soldiers do form bonds in spite of everything and use their time to think about their lives at home. This movie mostly showed the bad end of war, which clearly happened, but maybe the film missed other aspects of combat.
I agree with you completely. Saving Private Ryan's opening scene has always stuck with me. While some of the images may be a little far-fetched(English channel turning red with blood, soldier wandering in search of his lost arm, etc), I think they were included to ensure that the scene be as powerful as possible. No movie can compare to a real war experience, but by exaggerating, Saving Private Ryan does the best job of replicating one.
ReplyDeleteNever really thought about those moments in Saving Private Ryan where John Miller freezes up and stays still blanking out. Now looking back I think more of it, he must have been so amazed of how much violence is allowed in the world.
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