I've been waiting for the semester to end to watch this flick. After all, it clocks in at 2hrs and 49mins, which is quite a commitment. What is rare about this movie is that it has very few parts that lag. Usually when you get long movies like this, they have that problem. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly drags in a few spots, but the epic-ness of that film saves it, and makes it a true western standard, against which other westerns are forever compared.
Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, the main character.
My favorite part about Saving Private Ryan isn't all of the guts and gore -- of which there is plenty -- but it's the singular question that the film attempts to answer. The question is singular but not simple. In war, how can you rationalize death? The film creates the most difficult situation possible, which is sacrificing the lives of multiple men, for the life of one particular person, Private James Francis Ryan (from Iowa).
Captain Miller: You see, when... when you end up killing one of your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others. Maybe a hundred others... Do you know how many men I've lost under my command?
Sergeant Horvath: How many?
Captain Miller: Ninety-four... But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many... doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? . . . Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
Sergeant Horvath: ...Yeah, but this time the mission is the man.
Captain Miller: Yeah... well... He better be worth it. He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something.
So this sets the scene for the entire movie, which is a trek across the fields and towns of the Normandy region of France. Their mission is to find Private Ryan, who parachuted with the airborne behind enemy lines prior to the D-Day invasion. He is a special person, because he is a sole surviving son -- his three brothers having been killed in action across the globe. Along the way, the squad encounters enemy patrols, snipers, machine gun nests, tanks, and their final epic battle. The squad of eight loses several man during their journey, and nearly breaks apart. At one point they almost kill each other as the tension grows.
These characters are struggling with the ultimate question of the film. In this case, the question, more narrowed, is how can you rationalize the death of many to save one? The mission is not like other military ones, whereby killing the enemy saves other good guys down the line (temporally). The mission is the man. You are saving one man, at the cost of many. This is a hard question to answer. One possible answer is that the film serves as a microcosm of a larger metaphor. That is, sacrifice in [just] war paves the way for future liberty. In this sense, the film is rational. That is, you are giving Private Ryan a future (and his family). As a metaphor, this works. As a pure analog, the story falters, because you are denying the liberty of the men killed to save Ryan. Socially, though, the sacrifice of the other men to save Ryan is acceptable given the weight we accord to family. Regardless of your personal answer, the story tackles an epic question, and is why it is so memorable and endeared.
Captain Miller with Private Ryan (Matt Damon)
on the bridge Ryan is under orders to protect. Before
the final battle, Private Ryan learns of his
brothers' deaths, but decides to stay and defend
the bridge until the infantry arrive.
A few words sum up this rambling of a post. Lying injured on a bridge in France, a dying Captain Miller leans into Private Ryan's ear and whispers: "James, earn this... earn it."
"...earn this..."
