Regarding Director Spielberg, everyone must be familiar with it, "Schindler's List", "Ready Player One" and "Jurassic Park" are his directorial masterpieces.
The famous Chinese journal "Film Literature" once commented on this director:
"Steven Spielberg is a humane director who always cares for the masses. And his films can always contain philosophical reflections on life and reflection and care for human life conditions and the most common emotions, and frankly reveal the inner world of human beings. ”
Counting the achievements of this director, he is definitely a well-known figure in the history of film:
The Academy Awards awarded him Best Director twice, Best Picture once; he won the American Film Institute's "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 1995 and the Golden Globe Awards "Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2009; the American Film Institute selected the 100 greatest films in film history, and Spielberg accounted for 5, the most of all directors...
These great achievements aside, in the field of commercial film, he is also difficult to find a rival.
From more than 40 years of film career, he has directed more than 30 films, compared to Cameron's ten years of grinding a sword, Spielberg can be said to be a prolific and high-quality representative.
As of the release of "Ready Player One" last year, Spielberg's solo director has accumulated more than $10.541 billion in global box office, the first director in the history of global film to break $10 billion.
Spielberg can already be on par with the classics, and his works, over time, are becoming classics one by one.
So, this article will talk about One of Spielberg's classic war works - "Saving Private Ryan"
The film was filmed in 1998 as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival;
In 1999, he won 5 awards including Best Director and Best Cinematography at the 71st Academy Awards;
In 2006, the film ranked 10th in the list of "100 Most Inspiring Films" selected by the Motion Picture Association of America;
In 2014, the film was selected for the list of "national treasure films" in the United States in 2014...
In addition to such a fruitful record, the film still exudes its charm 20 years later, what is the magic of this war movie of the last century?
The film is a war film released in the United States on July 24, 1998, starring Tom Hanks, Tom Setzmore and Matt Damon.
It is based on real history, telling the story of the four sons of the Ryan family who fought on the front line after the Normandy landings, except for the younger son James Ryan, whose whereabouts are still unknown, the other 3 sons have been killed in various places within two weeks.
When the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army learned of this, he ordered the front to organize an 8-man squad to find Ryan and send him safely back to the rear.
Except for a scene in the U.S. government and Ryan's home that is only a few minutes long, the rest of the film is a battlefield scene, which can be described as a real war movie.
Therefore, the film mainly reproduces the major historical event of World War II - the Normandy landings through the two angles of war scenes and war life.
The first is the war scene: large and small scale battles, interspersed with the whole film.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the initial beach-grabbing landing battle and the final bridge-guarding ambush battle are the pinnacle of war films.
During the beach-grabbing landing, at the junction of sea and land, bullets splashed and shells blew up dirt.
The bullets pierced through the cold and merciless soldiers, and finally the blood intertwined and stained the entire edge of the beach.
The most classic of the beach rush battle is the vacuum tinnitus under intensive shooting.
When the mix of gunshots, waves, shouts, and footsteps is instantly "noise-reduced" and replaced by a minute-long tinnitus.
The camera follows the protagonist around, this kind of stillness, is maddening, is more aggressive than moving.
The whole process is suffocating, and the tragic scene and the rush of blood make people realize the cruelty of war.
In the ambush battle at the end of the film, the battle scene switches to the dilapidated inland area.
The soldiers used the terrain to ambush, but also immersive, close combat, socks sticking guns, high-rise snipers, replenishment of ammunition, the distinction between the enemy and us, the German tanks finally ended with the American air fighters.
The distinction between the two large-scale battles at the beginning and the end is extremely high, one attack and one guard, on the one hand, it follows the overall audiovisual language of the film, and on the other hand, it avoids the audience's viewing fatigue.
In addition to the two large-scale battles, the eight-man squad encounters small-scale street battles, bunker battles, and sniper battles on their way to find Ryan, and these small battles round out the story and characters of the film.
For example, take out a sniper point of the enemy, save a little girl, choose Ryan to guard the bridge together, and so on.
Not only does it advance the plot progress of the movie at a uniform pace, but it also stabilizes the rhythm of the entire movie.
In addition, it is worth mentioning the film's treatment of war scenes.
No matter how big or small the battle, it uses handheld photography and shaking the lens.
The effect presented in this way is that the battle scene is not stable, coupled with the design of the war scene, explosion, blood, casualties, creating an extremely realistic "war chaos", resulting in the audience's first perception is the instinctive fear of war, and then based on the shock and stimulation of the film and television corner.
For the audience, such a sense of presence and physical and mental discomfort will exist at the same time;
For the film, the camera faces life and death, and the strong sense of documentary is self-evident.
The second is life in the battlefield: the smoke of war has stopped, and peace has been highlighted.
War can train judgment, temper the will, enhance the physique, but also catalyze mental maturity, know that everything is not easy to come by, and know how to cherish any stability and peace in the ordinary day.
Therefore, this part is used as a temporary respite in the absence of war, and it complements the war scene.
Often in the context of the great war, we can know the real thoughts of the little people.
For example, the clip of opening a phonograph in the ruins is simply the tender highlight of the film.
When the music of love was playing wildly on the battlefield, in a layer of dreamy light and shadow, the warriors talked about hormones and love, and no one mentioned words like country or colony, just wanted to go home early.
Therefore, this movie is not only a real war scene with Mars splashing around and blood and flesh, but also a delicate and plain character shape.
It captures the emotions of every little person, and photographs every soldier who has been tired of war into a real flesh and blood person.
What impressed me most was that in the dim light, a young man choked up and expressed his thoughts about his mother, sharing this innate love without restraint.
Tears are not only wrapped in thoughts, but also fear.
He was afraid that he would never see his mother again, and he was afraid that if he died in battle, she would be old and helpless.
And the root of all these complex emotions is war, so he hates it too.
As Miller said: Is it really important to save Ryan? It's important to win this war so that everyone can go home and get back to their lives.
Finally cut back to a question worth pondering, eight people to save one person, is it worth it?
War has always been anti-human, it has nothing to do with justice or evil, its price must be sacrifice, it is terrible, helpless, flesh and blood blurred.
But in the oppressive environment of war, there are still people who retain good feelings, and will do whatever it takes to save a family and a mother's last hope.
The spiritual connotation it expresses is the supremacy of humanity and the bravery and fortitude of soldiers in resisting fascism.
Because of the fighting of these sacrificial soldiers, young Ryan was able to survive the brutal world war;
Because of this cross and the protection of his family, the elderly Ryan is still in awe of history.
The title of the film is "Saving Private Ryan", and such a hard-core title expresses the "little love" that saves the world and the "big love" that guards peace.
Finally, may war never happen again, and peace will always be the most beautiful theme in the world.
Brother Dong, | of the Bluestone Film Editorial Department