Saving Private Ryan

Year: 1998 Rating: R Overall Evaluation: 10 Significance Suppositions Story Style 10.0 / 10 10.0 / 10 10.0 / 10 10.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

Rated R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence, and for language. The first half hour of the movie is a chaos of blood and limbs - it is horrible. And it is probably exactly correct. Oddly, once you realize what the film is going to show you it comes across as being anti-gratuitous. There are no lingering shots of disgust, there are no unrealistic scenes. Yes, it is terrible - but it serves its purpose well. Yes, I would have appreciated less cussing, less blood, less death . . . but I am sure that those who were there would have appreciated it even more.

Story

Based on a composite of true stories, the movie relates the tale of a private in WWII who has lost three of his brothers in the space of one week. The military, not wanting a repeat of the Sullivan brothers tragedy, send in a small group of rangers to extract Ryan from somewhere in France and get him home. The cadre is not terribly excited about this duty - what makes one man worth risking the lives of eight? But off they go, eventually catching up to Ryan as his troop attempt to defend one of the last remaining bridges in a strategically located town.

[SPOILER WARNING!]

Ryan refuses extraction because he himself does not think he is worth anymore than the other men. So instead the groups join forces to protect or destroy the bridge when the Germans show up. In the end Ryan is saved but at the cost of most of the original group.

Suppositions

The film has been lauded as realistic with great attention to detail. The worldview is that of pre-Woodstock America (the last great generation). Honor and duty are assumed. The value of even one life is assumed. The fact that good and evil exist and that evil must be fought by the good is assumed. There is certainly nothing here to object to!

Significance

Much of the story revolves around one's duty and honor. My generation has been labeled "X" because it supposedly lacks any defining characteristics. This is not true. The postmodern generation X is defined by its lack of all the things other generations are known for because it has no cause, no cares, no duty, and no honor. When Ryan visits the grave of Capt. Miller the Christian metaphor is too obvious to miss. No believer should be ignorant of this film - its message is exactly what a disinterested, bored, and suicidal generation needs to hear: with the advent of abortion-on-demand, euthanasia, stem cell research, cloning, etc. the idea that life is valuable at all beyond pragmatic usefulness is becoming foreign. But life is, in fact, worth risking eight for one . . . or One for all.