Saving More Than Ryan

Steven Spielberg’s 1998 classic, Saving Private Ryan, has long enjoyed fame of being one of the most respected war films ever made. This movie opens with a twenty-seven-minute depiction of bloody Omaha Beach Assault. Following the Normandy Landings, a group of eight U.S. rangers led by Captain Miller receives a rescue mission to retrieve and send home a paratrooper, Ryan, whose three brothers have all been killed in action. While six of the rangers sacrifice themselves, Ryan is safely sent home. Though considered as one of the best war films ever made, Saving Private Ryan has received mixed reviews on its historical accuracy. While the Omaha Beach scene is regarded as highly authentic, the mission that takes the risk of losing eight soldiers for one does not accord with wartime philosophy. Despite some historical inaccuracies, such as the absurdity of the main story, Spielberg provides the audience with an authentic D-Day depiction and powerfully achieves his goal of conveying the contradictory nature of the war by building an emotional bridge between the soldiers and the audience.

Spielberg uses the first 30 minutes to depict a realistic World War II battle scene. The Omaha Beach landing is praised as “the most realistic battle sequence ever filmed” by American historian Antony Beever, the author of D-Day: The Battle for Normandy. The scenes of the Omaha Landings are correct in showing the shore just as it was on June 6, 1944. The images of blood-soaked sand, dead bodies along the shore, and the dark red ocean tide shock the audience. The boats used in the movie are LCVPs, which were the type of boats used on D-Day. Through the lens of handheld camera, audience can experience the chaos, confusion, and brutality of the war as if they were at the battle.

Spielberg’s depiction of the battle scene is consistent with memoirs of D-Day survivors. In Eisenhower’s message to D-Day soldiers, he mentioned, “Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.” The President’s precaution turned out to be true. In the combat of Omaha, 2,374 Allied soldiers died, most of whom were taken by the Germans’ powerful machine guns, which are given special emphasis in the movie. Captain Joseph T. Dawson landed with G Company, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division during the assault on Omaha Beach. In his oral account of Omaha Assault, he recalls, “My boat was hit with a direct hit, so the rest of my headquarters company was wiped out as well as the little flight control officer from the navy.” Dawson’s words accord with the scene in which nearly half of the soldiers on a boat are shot down as soon as the baffle is open. In Stephen Ambrose’s Citizen Soldiers, an Omaha survivor recounts, “We saw many bodies in the water…then we saw that the beach was literally covered with the bodies of American soldiers wearing the blue and gray patches of the 29th Infantry Division.” In the movie, when Captain Miller jumps into the water before he lands on the beach, the image of floating and bleeding bodies agrees with this veteran’s memory.

Saving Private Ryan also accurately portrays the mentality of the D-Day soldiers. In the movie, during the Omaha Assault and during the conflicts in the process of searching for Ryan, the soldiers never grieve over their comrades’ death for too long. Considering the intensity of the war, soldiers have no time to stop and think. Captain Dawson’s letter to his family after he survived D-Day perfectly illustrates this mindset. In Dawson’s letter, he described his psychology when he saw a sergeant sacrificed: “There was a sergeant laying there and two men and seeming refusing to advance…when I suddenly realized that they would never move again. It only made me realize how much more it was necessary for me to go on forward.”The translator, Upham, who is depicted as a coward in the movie, illustrates some of the real situations that the U.S. soldiers faced after D-Day. Due to large casualties, sometimes the troops had to use soldiers who were not well trained. Upham’s cowardice shows the conflict between patriotism and the struggle of survival. Those mutually contradictory pressures are in many ways lie at the heart of war.

Although the background of the movie is consistent with its set time period, the story of searching for Ryan is totally fictional in order to achieve a dramatic effect. In history, the Niland Brothers’ story is similar to Ryan’s situation in the movie. From the report of a local newspaper in July 1944, it is clear that the Niland family lost three sons in one month after D-Day, while the youngest son was safe. During real wartime, it would have been considered inefficient to send that many soldiers to save one. There is no record of a rescue mission in search of Fritz Niland, but he was sent home to the United States from the combat zone.

Albeit using fictional story, Spielberg successfully convinces his audience by letting the audience experience rather than watch or worship as outsiders.The New York Times once commented, “Spielberg knocks into oblivion every World War 2 movie ever made, and not ever Platoon or Full Metal Jacket has brought us so close to the experience of men facing live fire at close rage.” Though Saving Private Ryan does not have the best historical verisimilitude, the purpose of this movie is to build an emotional bridge between the war heroes to a later generation. Spielberg’s message is clearly conveyed by Captain Miller’s last word, “Earn this.” It is not only for Private Ryan, but also for everyone in later generation, who often takes peace for granted and never has experience related to war.

Saving Private Ryan is not a report of history but rather a commentary on history. This movie does a good job in conveying a larger truth and historical theme rather than imitate every historical detail. As old Ryan asks his wife, "Did I earn it?", every viewer of the movie should ask himself or herself whether he or she deserves the peace gained by the sacrifice of the war heroes.

Bibliography:

Ambrose, Stephen E. Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagles Nest. New York, NY: Simon & Schuste, 2001.

———. Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

The Buffalo News. "3D Son Missing Parents Learn; All since D-Day." July 8, 1944.

Carey, Matthew. "D-Day Historian: 'Ryan' Not Best War Film." Editorial. CNN International Edition. Last modified November 11, 2009. Accessed June 2, 2015. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/11/11/beevor.movies.dday/index.html?iref=24hours.

Dawson, Joseph T., Capt. Interview. Accessed June 2, 2015. http://www.firstdivisionmuseum.org/education/Pdfs/D-Day%20PDF/D-Day%20Resource%20Packet%20Primary%20Sources%20Section%201.pdf.

———. Letter, June 16, 1944. Accessed June 2, 2015. http://www.firstdivisionmuseum.org/education/Pdfs/D-Day%20PDF/D-Day%20Resource%20Packet%20Primary%20Sources%20Section%201.pdf.

Doyle, Peter. World War II in Numbers: An Infographic Guide to the Conflict, Its Conduct, and Its Casualties. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 2013.

Eisenhower, Dwight D. "D-day Statement to Soldiers, Sailor, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force, 6/44." Address, June 6, 1944.

Rollins, Peter C., and John E. O'Connor, eds. Why We Fought: America's Wars in Film and History. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2008.

PC: http://savingprivateryan.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_at_Ramelle