The invasion of Normandy, recreated in brutal detail on an Irish beach

Saving Private Ryan
A Paramount/DreamWorks Release, 1998
Directed by Steven Spielberg

$$$$

The film kicks-off with a harrowing 20-minute recreation of the invasion of Normandy. A parade of gruesome images go by, played out with little dialogue and, at times, no sound at all. Death is everywhere; slow, bloody, screaming-for-your-mama kind of death. The surreal moments pile up: a priest in combat gear prays to God for mercy on those who are losing their lives while a soldier prays to the same God for help in taking lives. Spielberg said he wanted to shoot the battle as if he were a combat cameraman and he succeeds. The whole sequence is the work of a master. And when it’s over, if you can make it through, you know you’re in for more than just a movie -- you’re about to have a life-altering experience.

But the battle scene is just a set-up for the task described in the title. It’s a suicide mission that further establishes the grim tone: A squad is sent in behind enemy lines to retrieve a young private who’s three brothers have all been killed in action -- he’s going to be sent home. If he can be found, that is -- and that proves to be no easy job. “A needle in a stack of needles,” is how one character describes it.

The man chosen to lead the effort is Capt. John Miller, played by Tom Hanks, who gives his best performance to date. Hanks has excelled at playing regular guys and that’s why he’s so effective here. He’s not John Wayne; he’s an ordinary man. Watching him, you get the feeling that if he can summon the strength to endure the conflict then, gosh darn it, couldn’t we all? Tom Sizemore, as Miller’s second-in-command, also does an Oscar-worthy job. Edward Burns (The Brothers McMullen), Jeremy Davies (Spanking the Monkey), and Giovanni Ribisi help round-out the squad of soldiers.

The mission to find Ryan proves costly, and along the way we’re given scenes of war that shatter every cliche. It all leads up to one, long expertly staged battle that puts all of Spielberg’s numerous skills on display. The soldiers resent risking their lives to save one man, but in the end, Ryan comes to symbolize all that the war was fought for: so many die, so that so many more can live.

We’re left with the message that bravery isn’t about facing death with no fear, it’s about facing death despite fear -- because there are some things more important than yourself. Private Ryan is not an anti-war movie. It’s not a pro-war movie either. It’s anti-complacency. This movie, better than any that have gone before, shows the sacrifice that one generation of men made for what we have today.

The legacy of the war, and the enormous guilt felt by those who managed to make it out alive, is shown in a brief frame story about an aging veteran returning to the cemetery at Omaha beach. We meet the veteran right after the opening credits (before the Normandy battle scenes) and we can’t tell in the beginning which character this man is supposed to represent in the flashback that unfolds. As a result, the frame story doesn’t reveal who lives and who dies in the tale that follows (are you taking notes James Cameron?).

This is one powerful movie. It’s also the perfect companion piece to Schindler’s List. That film showed what happened to the victims of a great evil. This movie shows how that evil was defeated. If Spielberg, as he said in numerous interviews, made Schindler’s List for his mother, then surely he made Private Ryan for his father, a World War II vet. It honors all those who fought for their country. It also puts the great war movies like Bridge on the River Kwai, Paths of Glory, Apocalypse Now, The Big Red One, and Full Metal Jacket in their place. This one’s better.

Copyright 1998