Saving Private Ryan
I chose Saving Private Ryan, the 1998 movie directed by Steven Spielberg about the invasion at Normandy and a special mission that follows, as the topic of my paper. The mission is for eight men to go behind enemy lines and rescue a soldier who’s brothers have died in battle and bring him back.
The movie starts with the D-Day invasion at Normandy Beach, a very tragic and great day at the same time. Allied troops were being shot the second the landing vehicles opened, mortars were dropping all over, there was no cover, and those who sought refuge in the water were drowned by the weight of their equipment. As all of this happens, we follow members of one unit as they struggle to make their way on shore. Bodies are dropping everywhere, the wounded are piling up, and things are looking down. After intense battle and effort, however, the Allied forces finally take the beach, but not without a high cost of life.
From what I know and have heard about the D-Day invasion, the movie was very accurate on it’s portrayal of the attack. The action was so intense at the movie theater I first saw it in that a veteran got up and left for a while because he was crying so bad. I later found out that he had actually been there and that seeing it so vividly on screen had brought back too many bad memories. If that doesn’t convey realism, I don’t know what does. ...
Since the movie is based on a true story, there aren’t very many parts that happen in the movie that never happened. The movie is extremely accurate in its portrayal of the military emotionally hardened father.
Michael C. C. Adams' book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II, attempts to dispel the numerous misconceptions of the Second World War. As the title suggests, Americans came out of the war with a positive view of the preceding five turbulent years. This myth was born from several factors. Due to the overseas setting of both theaters of the war, intense government propaganda, Hollywood's glamorization, and widespread economic prosperity, Americans were largely sheltered form the brutal truth of World War II. Even to this day, the generation of World War II is viewed as being superior in morality and unity. The popular illusion held that 'there were no ethnic or gender problems, families were happy and united, and children worked hard in school and read a great number of books.' (115)
...oung American men had to endure from the time that they had joined back in their boot camp days, and the brutality of war that showed them no mercy. To me the importance of the movie was to show what truly went on over in Vietnam through the eyes of a soldiers eyes of what happened, as the film created a very disturbing yet a real picture of The Vietnam War.
After the United States captures the beachhead and settles down, Captain Miller and his seven soldiers begin their mission. The dilemma is Private Ryan, in the 101st airborne, was miss his drop zone away from the original plan. Command thinks he is in a nearby town swarming with German soldiers. Miller’s squad goes through towns, forests, and enemy occupied areas searching for Private Ryan. Sadly, two out of the eight men are killed during the search diminishing the morale. The captain mentally suffers from the burden of losing his men. When they finally locate Ryan, he is defending one of the most strategic towns in the beginning of the war. The town has one of the only 2 bridges across the river that will collect the Allies to the Eastern front. Private Ryan does not want to leave his men guarding the bridge because he feels that it is unfair to leave his fellow soldiers. So Captain Miller and the squad decide to make a last stand ...
There is a scene in this movie where the coach takes the team on a long run in the middle of the night. They end up at the break of dawn at a cemetery. The coach tells the young men of the battle that was fought on that ground. He told of the blood shed on those grounds that turned the whole area red. This can help many people that want to make a difference in this world.
However in other parts the movie got it wrong. Although it is impossible to make the movie completely accurate I believe this movie could have done better. As the veterans stated in their critiques of the movie, hundreds of men and women who were at Pearl Harbor and served in World War II did receive the praise they deserved. On top of that many of the things that were inaccurate in the movie were way off. For instance the scene when they were listening to the airplane radio transmissions from Hawaii. Overall, the movie does a fine job of showing the horrors of the Pearl Harbor. It is a great way to get a close representation of the events at Pearl Harbor and the events of World War II after
O’Brien, Tim. “How to Tell a True War Story.” The Things They Carried. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990. Print.
Create a list of O'Brien's criteria of how to tell a true war story and give an example of each criteria in outline form.
Another accuracy in this movie was the concentration camps in this movie, they were portrayed very well. Just like history, immediately after arriving at a concentration camp, they were split up and divided by gender and age. As soon as they arrived people who the Nazis did not see fit to work were killed. Along with this people
It was 1944, and the United States had now been an active participant in the war against Nazi Germany for almost three and a half years, nearly six years for the British. During that period occurred a string of engagements fought with ferocious determination and intensity on both sides. There is however, one day which stands out in the minds of many American servicemen more often than others. June 6, 1944, D-Day, was a day in which thousands of young American boys, who poured onto the beaches of Utah and Omaha, became men faster than they would have ever imagined possible. Little did they know of the chaos and the hell which awaited them on their arrival. Over the course of a few hours, the visions of Omaha and Utah Beaches, and the death and destruction accompanied with them formed a permanent fixation in the minds of the American Invaders. The Allied invasion of Europe began on the 6th of June 1944, and the American assault on Utah and Omaha beaches on this day played a critical role in the overall success of the operation. (Astor 352)
The director weaved a captivating emotional tapestry by playing on the audience’s previous knowledge of Gallipoli, with a manipulation of people’s sense of injustice, a taste of hatred at the idiocy of war, he pulled this together by superb screen play to leave the heart pumping of every viewer. This movie affected teenagers by exploiting the harsh reality of what really happened during Gallipoli by the use of music, for causing a slowing effect as the viewer takes in the full meaning of the scene along with close ups to exaggerate the theme of courage. Peter Weir tied these techniques along with dialogue and tracking shots to reenact the horrible way lives were lost in Gallipoli during 1914-1915. AN important message for teenagers was clearly showing throughout the film on a young man who lost his life, while fighting bravely for what he believed in. Teenagers communicate this message of the importance of fighting and being brave when standing up for yourself and your goals and appreciating everything we have, as it one day may be
Keegan, John and Richard Holmes. Soldiers: A History Of Men In Battle. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1986.
O’Brien, Tim. “How to Tell a True War Story.” The Things They Carried. Boston and New York: Mariner Books, 2009. 64-81. Print.
The movie I chose to analyze for historical accuracy was War Horse. This movie was set in the First World War, starting in Britain but the story also explored France and Germany during this time period as well. Three scenes will be analyzed: the trench warfare scene between the British and the Germans, the scene where the British soldiers were gassed, and the scene where the British were getting patched up and nursed. War Horse does well to stick to the historical accuracy of what happened during the First World War due to the fact that the three scenes that I have chosen to analyze are not embellished and are close to what really happened.
Although the book did an incredible job in explaining every detail and story that happened throughout the day and preceding night, the movie did a much better job in helping the viewer visualize the entire ordeal. Without the film there would be no real way to understand how massive and tragic the invasion was, unless you were there. Which is one reason why both the book and the movie are both so accurate. Because Ryan had based everything in his book on his own personal accounts and hundreds of veteran accounts. The writers, directors, and producer successfully realized their goal of a truly exact D-day film, and they did it without a consistent story or gore. While the stories in the movie were weak and were never truly completed, the movie and book still left the viewer satisfied with what they had watched or read. Without Ryan’s book, I doubt that there would be a D-day movie out that accomplished the same goal of realism that Zanuck’s The Longest Day had.