John Carter
Green Group
Pd.9
3/8/15
Cinematic Analysis Saving Private Ryan
John Carter
Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg, is set in
1998 in the midst of the Invasion of Normandy in World War II. The
film opens with an elderly man looking down on the grave of a
fallen soldier. It then moves to the front line of the Normandy
invasion as Captain John Miller leads his men up the beach. Through
gunfire and explosions many men are killed, and many more are
grotesquely injured. Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks is
respected to such an extent that on the way to the first trench
four people die in an effort to save him. After the troops
successfully capture the beach, a squad led by Captain John Miller
is reassigned. Their mission is to find the last of four brothers,
Private James Ryan, to ease his grieving mother. On this mission
the squad faces a number of obstacles, resulting in the death of
three of Captain John Millers men. In the final scene, just before
the American planes bomb the enemies into surrender, Captain Miller
himself is shot. His dying words to Private Ryan are earn this.
What John Miller meant was that Private Ryan should live a life
that was worth what it took to save his. Steven Spielberg portrays
the idea that you should live a life worth saving. The movie ends
back at the graveyard and it is established that the elderly man is
Private Ryan and he is standing over Captain John Millers grave, he
proceeds to say that he believes he earned it.
Saving Private Ryan is ultimately a very accurate portrayal of
World War II. says worldwarIIfilms.weebly.com. It continues to say
that the gore and horrors of war were accurately portrayed in the
film and that, soldiers were constantly losing fellow men within
their squads, and it was common for the fatally wounded soldiers to
scream out in agony, as shown in the film. However the site did
note that in almost every scene the soldiers would be shown with
their helmets unbuckled which was very irrational. However accurate
the initial battle scene, Saving Private Ryan online encyclopedia
assures us that, the story for the search for Private Ryan is
fictional, however there was a real paratrooper in the 101st
Airborne Division whose family suffered the loss of three out of
four sons in combatUnlike the fictional Ryan however, there was no
need to send out a rescue mission to find Sergeant Niland. In
conclusion, although the first twenty minutes of the film
concerning the Normandy landings are very illuminating and factual
the story of Private Ryan is only based on a true story.
Throughout Saving Private Ryan various cinematographic
techniques are used to enhance the viewers awareness of the
setting. The film won the 1999 Academy Award for Best
Cinematography for good reason. From the close ups in the Normandy
Landings, to the wide, all-encompassing shots as the troops
executed their various missions the cinematographic techniques gave
the viewers an intimate insight of every aspect of the war. An
especially notable cinematographic moment in the film was the
sniper battle which consisted of a series of POV, ECU, and CU shots
to establish the tension and gravity of the situation at hand. When
the shot is finally taken the camera zooms out to show the enemy
sniper dead and the tension is relieved. Another cinematographic
technique used in the film that I thought was intriguing was when
the sniper was individually killing the enemy troops down below and
the camera switched back and forth between a POV shot down the
barrel and a CU of the sniper as he recited his prayer and
reloaded, adding a very intense feeling to the scene. Overall, the
various cinematographic techniques used in the film, Saving Private
Ryan, kept the viewer interested throughout the surprisingly long
film.
Bibliography
Historical Accuracy of WWII films. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Mar.
2015..
Saving Private Ryan Online Encyclopedia. N.p., 29 Jan. 2010.
Web. 8 Mar. 2015..
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