Essentials: Saving Private Ryan

Year: 1998

Genre: War Drama

Directed: Steven Spielberg

Stars: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Matt Damon, Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina

Production: Amblin Entertainment

WWII has been an astoundingly ubiquitous and efficacious event in the movies ever since 1939. Not a year goes by that at least one film concerns itself with the war, it's belligerents, it's soldiers, it's politics or it's innocents. There are many reasons for this, including the death toll, the availability of film technology, the timing and the Nazis themselves, being perfect villains by the power of their twisted ideology. Yet even a superficial look at history will reveal evil taking many shapes causing comparable turmoil in it's wake across the millenniums. Why then are modern audiences (the vast majority of which are generations removed from the conflict) so viscerally affected by WWII specifically?

The events of Saving Private Ryan are intended by military brass to be a moving piece of Army propaganda. The titular Private (Damon) is the youngest of four American farm-boy brothers, all of which were killed in the line of duty. Following the invasion of Normandy, Captain John Miller (Hanks) and his small company are tasked with going behind enemy lines to retrieve Private Ryan and bring him back before his mother at home collects yet another Army telegram. Along for the ride is the gruff Sgt. Harvath (Sizemore), the headstrong Private Reiben (Burns), Sniper Private Jackson (Pepper), Medic Irwin Wade (Ribisi) and three additional Privates Caparzo (Diesel), "Fish" (Goldberg) and Upham (Davies).

The film's ensemble all-male cast does an outstanding job all-around, each having the acting chops and dexterity to expand on their characters in a way that forms naturally from the story and the situations. These men, though duty-bound and ultimately courageous are not the quaint cardboard cut-outs we've seen in sub-par G.I. Joe B-movies. They're human, frail and afraid though still have the gumption and intelligence and moral fortitude to see things through. At the center of the motley crew is Tom Hank's whose unsure Captain Miller does his best given an escalating mess of obstacles from both the defending Nazis and the confusion of the U.S. Army grouping and regrouping after every decisive battle.

Americanization of Emily (1964)

Yet Saving Private Ryan doesn't fall into the wry cynicism of The Americanization of Emily (1964) or the bitter fatalism of The Big Red One (1980). It doesn't choose to be quite as reductive as simply saying, "war is absurdity." Behind the grime, the rubble and the turmoil stands director Steven Spielberg's patented virtuous humanism, elevating the material to powerful heights. With a delicate but commanding hand, Spielberg fills the screen with moments of hope and nobility largely taking advantage of old-fashioned storytelling and Tom Hank's benevolent credibility. Every moment of affecting drama hits it's mark, reaching a satisfying crescendo that is guaranteed not to leave a dry eye in the theater.

Of course no war drama, as poignant as it might be, can be complete without high-octane action which I'm glad to say Saving Private Ryan delivers big time. To enhance the realism of the various gun-battles and thunderous Army advances, Spielberg doesn't shy away from blood or gore, showing the inhumanity of war in all it's awful, shameful glory. The first battle, a shocking and adrenaline-pumping depiction of D-Day at Omaha Beach is quite frankly one of the best war scenes ever committed to film.

While telling a real, complex and harrowing human story at the center of an inhumane war, Saving Private Ryan cuts through all the propaganda that made WWII the standalone cinematic force it was and arguably still is. Unlike the nationalistic one-reels of Frank Capra or the sinister celluloid works of Joseph Goebbels and company, Saving Private Ryan is a hard-nosed look at war from the perspective of those in the fray. It's exciting, bittersweet, scary, saddening and redemptive all in equal measure thus making Saving Private Ryan one of the best war films ever made.

Final Grade: A