Saving Private Ryan Historical Accuracy

Saving Private Ryan: The Reality Behind The Movie

Saving Private Ryan is a very realistic and accurate World War II movie and it is probably one of the best movies that have ever been created about World War II in my opinion. The movie is very realistic and because of this it was selected last year for long term preservation in the national film registry by the library of congress because of how vividly and accurately it depicts “war as hell” in the opening scenes. It is a movie I would recommend to anyone who would want to see an accurate portrayal of what some of World War II was like in a movie and it would be my first recommendation if you wanted a good depiction of what the events of D-Day were like.

Saving Private Ryan can be summarized

as the journey of a squad of Americans soldiers to save the life of one man whose brothers have all died in combat. The movie begins with an old man walking to a grave in a cemetery where he collapses in tears. This is where the journey begins and it starts with the scene that the movie is most famous for. It is the very realistic scene where soldiers are landing on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day June 6th 1944. After this we then see the assembling of the squad whose job it is to set out and save Private Ryan whose brothers have all died. The squad sets out and faces many obstacles, challenges, and tragedies on their journey to save Private Ryan. When they finally find Private Ryan he does not want to leave his post and desert his fellow soldiers even when he was told about his brothers because they are guarding a critical bridge needed for the war. They end up staying saving the bridge and Private Ryan but at great costs. The movie closes with an emotional scene where we see a very touching scene of Private Ryan as the old man we saw in the beginning questioning himself and reflecting on his life.

This premise of the movie is based on a real life policy of the United States military called the sole survivor policy that was introduced in 1942 after the tragic deaths of five brothers of the Sullivan family that were serving on the Juneau when it was sunk by a torpedo in the south pacific by the Japanese Navy.

The movie was also inspired by the real story of Frederick Niland and his brothers. Private Ryan was a fictional character but he was loosely based on the story of Frederick Niland. Frederick Niland had three brothers. Two of his brothers were killed in battle and the third was missing and presumed dead. Frederick Niland just like Private Ryan in the movie parachuted in to France. He was knocked off course when his plane took fire. It took him a week to fight his way back to his regiment. When he returned he learned of one his brothers passing and sought out his grave. While searching for his grave with the help of a Champlain Father Francis Sampson that he discovered by accident that another of his brothers had fallen and he was also buried there. It was in the late summer of 1944 that the same Champlain came to see him and told him that he was going home by order of the president because he was a sole surviving son under the sole survivor policy. Like Private Ryan in the Movie Frederick Niland did not want to leave he wanted to stay and fight but he ended up going home. It is this story that was a huge inspiration for the

movie.

When Steven Spielberg made Saving Private Ryan he wanted to show World War II for what it really was. In his own words he told CNN in an interview that "I wasn't going to add my film to a long list of pictures that make World War II 'the glamorous war,' 'the romantic war." The movie has been praised by audiences and critics alike for its authenticity. I would say that it is safe to say that he achieved that goal because even actual World War II veterans have stated that Saving Private Ryan is the most realistic presentation of combat that they have seen. This is in part because Steven Spielberg used images taken by Robert Capa at the D-day Landings as inspiration for his depiction of D-Days events. Judge John Harrison who was at D-Day on Utah Beach said in an interview with PBS when asked “do you think the movie caught the character of what that experience was like for people at D-Day?” that “It couldn’t be more real.” It was so realistic in fact that it caused some veterans of the war to experience symptoms Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Department of Veterans Affairs even had to staff a hotline for veterans and their families who were upset by the scenes in the movie.

The town of Ramelle in the movie is fictional but the story of an important bridge that needed to be defended appears to be based on some real events.

The Ludendorff Bridge shares a similar story to the one in the movie. American forces were surprised then they discovered the bridge was still intact as Hitler had ordered the bridges over the river be destroyed. American forces advanced on the bridge and explosives were set off but due to some faulty fuses the bridge only suffered minor damage. The American forces were able to capture the bridge after fighting their way across and it was dubbed the Miracle of Remagen. The bridge became an important foothold for allied troops just as the bridge in the movie was viewed as being an important foothold that needed to be

protected.

In my opinion Saving Private Ryan is one of the best movies about World War II. This movie feels like it could have been an actual story from World War II even though the characters and the events of the movie are fictional. Steven Spielberg did an excellent job of making sure of that. He drew all of his inspiration from real places, people, and things and went to extraordinary lengths to create a movie that was fictitious but was based on and heavily grounded in reality. In conclusion I would have no problem recommend it to someone as a medium for understanding World War II and history better.