Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan The movie Saving Private Ryan opens with an old and greyed Private Ryan visiting the World War II memorial cemetery in Normandy to pay tribute to Captain Miller, who could be considered the main focus in the movie. This scene is short-lived, as it quickly transitions to one of the goriest scenes in the entire movie: the Omaha Beach landing in 1944. It’s 20 minutes of aggression and horror, and accurately depicts the possible terrors that soldiers face on the battlefield. Here the audience is introduced to Captain Miller, who is seen as the voice of reason and a leader figure through the rest of the movie as he leads his group through a war-ridden France to find Private Ryan. Through the entire movie, the audience is exposed

The effects are amazing, with director Steven Spielberg hiring a great number of amputees to really capture the gore that can occur on a battlefield when casualties occur (Amputees). The lighting in the movie is very desaturated and in each scene the color scheme sets the mood for the audiences insight. The most memorable scenes in the entire movie, these being battle scenes, are so memorable because of the incredible effects that were used to make them. In the first battle on Omaha Beach, the audience sees soldiers being blown to bits and writhing in pain before dying, often with close up shots of them being injured or pushing through the pain to continue fighting. At the end of this scene, the audience sees a beach littered with bodies and enough blood to change the color of the water. Based off of reports from veterans that watched Saving Private Ryan, this was an accurate depiction of what happens in wars on battlefields and the scene is, to put it simply, stomach churning (Ryan). Outside of this initial battle scene, the movie moves quickly as Captain Miller’s team moves through France, and the audience is exposed to several different cinematic techniques regarding lighting and sound effects to keep them on the edge

The audience is able to get familiar with the characters in Captain Miller’s team, and can see their struggles and encounters with enemy soldiers and each other. The team initially has a lot of setbacks based on disagreements but come together and trust each other more and more as the movie progresses. Mid way through the movie we finally get more insight on who Captain Miller is outside of the war and it is humbling to see a portrayal of normal people that come together to fight for what they love and overcome hardships