Movie Analysis - Saving Private Ryan

Movie Analysis of Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan was one of the first movies to show the worst terrors of war in film. There are scenes in the movie that show soldiers screaming for their mothers as they watch their intestines fall out of them. The violence is so realistic that the movie itself almost earned an NC 17 rating rather than its actual R rating. Steven Spielberg also picks a phenomenal cast who show the toll of war on man. Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan is an anti-war movie, which can be seen through the extreme violence and through the movie's cast.

There are multiple scenes in Saving Private Ryan that show extreme violence, but one scene in particular stands out. After the opening scene –where Private Ryan visiting the grave of Captain Miler- the movie starts on Normandy Beach. The scene is played through the eyes of Captain Miller. As soon as his ship lands on the beach the German machine guns tear into the soldiers. The ping of bullets off of helmets becomes a familiar sound. Concussions from mortars rock the ground as the camera view shakes constantly. Soldiers who saw the ocean as a hiding place now become easy bait as the German machine guns rip them apart. As Captain Miller moves up the beachhead the mortars strike down harder and harder. He looks around and the reality of the situation finally hits him. The sand on the beach becomes stained with the blood of the storming soldiers. Soldiers who have been mutilated by bullets and mortars now bathe in their own blood with organs falling out of their bodies. As Miller advanced onward he and the other soldiers eventually took the beach.

Spielberg purposely made this movie extremely violent because he intended Saving Private Ryan to be an anti-war movie. Spielberg uses special equipment and techniques such as hand-held cameras, slight speeding up of images, muted colors, and different kinds of film stock to make scenes as real and violent as possible. Spielberg uses these techniques and equipment to show his audiences what war does to people.

Another scene in Saving Private Ryan that displays the horrors of war is in the closing battle. At this point in the movie Captain Miller's crew has decided to help Private Ryan's platoon in defending a bridge. This time the Germans attack with heavy war machines like the Panzer tank, and 40mm machine guns. When the Germans have fully entered the town, that surrounds the bridge, the Americans surprise attack them with all they have. The sniper starts too pick soldiers off leaving fountains of blood squirting from their necks. The Americans lay down heavy machine gun fire, picking off soldiers one by one. As the tanks get closer the Americans charge them and throw grenades in the cabin shredding the drivers apart. At this point the Germans have caught onto the counter attack and start their offense. The remaining Panzer starts to target the