I can remember one of the first World War II films that I ever saw by the name of “The Great Escape”. It told the heroic story of a group of Allied prisoners of war in a heavily guarded German camp. The story is so famous because the odds of them pulling off a successful escape were slim to none, and in turn meant life or death. I found that this was one of great war films at a time when Hollywood was serving on a whim every year.
The problem with these films was that they were made in a time when filmmaking didn’t have the technological advances that it has today. They couldn’t be made realistically for two main reasons. One was that it simply couldn’t be done, and another was that the public wasn’t ready for seeing that. And to be honest, I can’t blame them. The only true stories of war come from the veterans who are willing to tell them. I’ve heard a couple myself, and there is certainly nothing glamorous about it. But I am a firm believer that war is indeed a good thing if it can bring peace and if it can make the world a better place.
That in itself is why no one really criticizes World War II, because there was an evil in the world and it needed to be stopped. And though the film industry has tried to capture that on film in the past, nothing comes remotely close to “Saving Private Ryan”. I consider this to be, by far, the best picture that tells of happenings in the Second World War.
If any battle of that war is the most talked about and analyzed, it is the D-Day invasion and the eventual liberation of France. D-Day was the decisive battle and turning point of the war in Europe. “Saving Private Ryan” just happens to open with that battle. The graphic sequence takes place on the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach, the beach that took the most casualties of them all. Once again, it takes me back to the classic film “The Longest Day”, which was about nothing but D-Day. And I can remember the triumphant charge of men on Omaha Beach where they take the Germans in one long assault.
I was intrigued to find out that that was not how it happened. The realty was that these men were pinned down by fire, and never made one huge charge like that because if they did they all would have been slaughtered. The man to bring this aspect to life is Steven Spielberg.
It’s no doubt that Spielberg has used elements of war in a large number of his films. “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Empire of the Sun”, and of course “Schindler’s List” all have these windows of war in them, but it’s not until now that that window has been unlatched and swung wide open. Be ready because “Private Ryan” doesn’t hold back. It is filled with carnage, all of which looks scarily real, and the war violence is beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
But the violence is there for a reason. It’s not there to make you cringe (although it does) and it’s definitely not there to make you wonder how they made it look real (although you will). Simply put, all the blood and gore is there to make you remember. We all complain in the morning when we have to go to school or to work, but after watching this film, and experiencing its power, we should all consider what was asked of the generation of men who fought and won World War II.
Every once in a while, society needs to wake up and see that we are here for a reason too, and that these wars are not fought in vein. Remembering what happened in that generation is what Spielberg has unforgettably accomplished. ****