World War II is in full swing and the Normandy Landing has just occurred. Lives have been lost, families torn apart, and the world is at odds. Private Ryan (Matt Damon) has already lost his three brothers during the war; he is the only remaining Ryan brother, and the United States military sends a group of soldiers behind enemy lines to save him and bring him home to his mother. Saving Private Ryan is their goal, but this task will prove to be incredibly difficult.
How else could one sum up Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan other than perfect? The film opens to an older man (Harrison Young) walking with his family, but viewers are unsure of who the man is. This is a film about World War II, and there’s no surprise as to how the film ultimately plays out, with the history books telling the world of the dangerous and vicious stories in which the American military took part. However, the early introduction of this unknown character adds a level of mystery to an already action-packed film. There are levels to what Spielberg is able to create throughout the course of this, including action, emotion, mystery, and thrills...never allowing viewers to leave the edge of their seats. And, as Saving Private Ryan plays out, those viewers are sucked into a story full of historically accurate passion and adventure.
Hollywood typically has a way of glorifying reality, and that fact alone presents Saving Private Ryan, and Spielberg specifically, with an obstacle to overcome. He has to make sure that viewers are anticipating something, and that the potential glamor of Hollywood doesn’t take away the suspense of this meaningful film. The entire cast and crew are up for this task, constantly providing viewers with small glimmers of what might possibly come. Violence, death, blood, and gore riddle the screen and the film as a whole, stresses out viewers in a fashion that allows them to remain focused, afraid to miss Saving Private Ryan’s next big moment.
Saving Private Ryan is full of a star-studded cast. Led by Tom Hanks (Captain John Miller), who is supported by individuals such as Vin Diesel (Private Caparzo), Giovanni Ribisi (T/4 Medic Wade), Ted Danson (Captain Hamill), this film was sure to deliver spectacular performances from the moment production got off the ground. Audiences are dazzled by a superb portrayal of emotion that transcends audiences and makes them feel like part of the story. This film is gut-wrenching and emotionally draining, and much of that comes as a result of the cast’s prowess.
The cinematography, however, rivals the acting, and brings this ferocious world of death and demise to life. My grandfather, who served in the Korean War, once told me that Saving Private Ryan is the best representation of war that he has ever seen. He went on to say that the only aspect of war that doesn’t exist in this film is the smell, and that literally everything else is a mirror image of the horrors that soldiers experience during war. Capturing the visuals, those horrific visuals, is the bread and butter of Saving Private Ryan. Even if you haven’t seen the film in its entirety, you’ve likely seen the men rushing the beaches of Normandy that occurs toward the start of the film, and in that twenty-minute scene viewers, more than at any other point in the film, see, first hand, the tragedy faced by the allied forces on June 6, 1944. There are often times, as those forces traverse the bloody beach, viewers travel alongside them, becoming fully immersed in this masterpiece. Unless you were there it’s seems impossible to know for sure the anxiety, fear, and regret that the individuals standing, running, and lying on the French beach felt, but it appears that the cinematography, headed by Janusz Kaminski, is the closest that anyone will ever come to capturing that emotion. The perfection that is the cinematography doesn’t end here, however, as Kaminski and his crew consistently shine in this regard throughout the rest of the film. Paired with the aforementioned acting, this film solidifies itself as one of the greatest of all time.
From the opening moments of Saving Private Ryan, viewers are floored by the acting, the visuals, and the emotion present. Spielberg and crew never relent as they take their viewers on a journey quite unlike anything the world has ever seen before. Not only do we feel emotionally connected to the compelling characters, it’s almost as if we are able to reach out and touch them and their surroundings. Again, Saving Private Ryan is fully immersive, pulling viewers into the story as a result of the impeccable acting and stellar cinematography. The superbly-written story (courtesy of Robert Rodat), the mystery surrounding the old man, and the suspense–which is invigorating–help bring together the most accurate telling of a war story in history. If you’ve never seen Saving Private Ryan, and even if war films aren’t your forte, Spielberg’s behemoth of a film is sure to entertain from beginning to end, and is possibly the one film that everyone should see before their time is up.
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Written by Robert Rodat.
Starring Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Matt Damon, Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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