There are many war films with surging blood and roaring artillery fire, and some of them have forgotten after watching them;
Some can only act as a concoction in our ordinary lives, stimulating our senses and releasing our emotions;
Some are destined to dwell in the depths of our memories, to see them once, to purify our hearts once.
"Saving Private Ryan" undoubtedly belongs to the latter.
The real hero in the fire of war, it is our hearts that save us.
"Saving Private Ryan" is the story of 8 people venturing to save 1 person.
Director Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director again for this film. (Schindler's List (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998)
"Saving Private Ryan" has received numerous accolades, is one of the best war films in Hollywood history, and is a milestone in war films. In 2014, the film was selected into the list of "national treasure films" in the United States.
During World War II, Ryan, an American paratrooper played by Matt Damon, was trapped behind enemy lines, and all three of his brothers were killed. If he were also killed, the mother in the family would have suffered a huge blow from the loss of 4 sons at once.
The U.S. Military Command decided to send an 8-man squad, including Captain Miller (Tom Hanks), to rescue him.
In fact, they in the film and we all have the same question as those who watch the movie: is it worth it to save 1 of the 8 adventures?
Great war movies are not just cannon fire and blood. What really hit us was the softness of human nature in war movies.
Saving Private Ryan is constantly switching between rigidity and softness, cruelty and fragility. The camera moves from the solemn cemetery to the fiercely fought beach, to the quiet rural wilderness, to the ruins of the war, and finally to the peaceful cemetery. After several transformations, it is like a lifetime.
The film opens with more than twenty minutes of the famous Normandy landings.
At the beginning of the film, the bloody and terrifying war pictures are nakedly presented to us: the flesh and blood blurred remnants that were blown up in mid-air, the soldiers who were dying and calling for their mothers, the wounded who cried everywhere, the sea water stained red with blood, the sound of bullets passing through the water, the sound of bullets hitting steel racks, and the bloody battlefield surgery and other most real war scenes... More than twenty consecutive minutes of motion shots leave us with no breathing space, and they are extremely shocking.
- What a tragic sight.
- Yes, it was tragic.
If the twenty-odd minutes of war scenes in the opening scene only intensely stimulate our senses, then the next scene of calm and sereneness is a heavy blow in the softest part of our hearts.
In the quiet office, where only the sound of the typewriter can be heard, the crackling soft sound is the death knell ringing.
The most tragic thing is not the scene of the war, but the death notice informing the loved ones.
Dear Mr. Boyd, you should have been informed of the death of your son. Saying nothing can alleviate your grief, this unit deeply regrets his death, he is a good soldier...
He was dutiful and dutiful, and everyone missed him...
You are the mother of five warriors who died gloriously on the battlefield, and I feel that my words are weak and powerless, that I cannot soothe your sorrows at all, nor can I make up for your losses, but I must thank you here, who died to save your country, and may God appease the pain of the loss of your son, so that you may forever remember your beloved who have passed away, and that the divine glory is attributed to you, for you have paid a great price for your freedom. - Lincoln Salute
The picture of a mother collapsing on the ground without a single line makes people look extremely sad. The photo on the right is enough to illustrate everything, she has lost three sons, and the only one left (Ryan) is uncertain.
The next 8-man squad's adventure to find Ryan is the highlight of the film.
First of all, go deep into the battlefield to find a person, like finding a needle in a haystack. Secondly, Ryan is trapped behind enemy lines, and the rescue work is very dangerous.
The 8-man squad led by Captain Miller, the rescue of Ryan, filled us with suspense and anticipation. 8 people have common goals, but each has their own unique personality, there are many accidents, conflicts, hesitations, and more cruel is that people continue to die.
Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, has a calm eye and a lot of combat experience. The film does not strive to create his tall heroic image, but delicately shows his complete humanity from different aspects.
His right hand was often trembling, and he would be afraid too.
He has a tough guy's liver and gallbladder, but his heart is still soft. When his comrade died, he sat alone on the stone and wept silently.
He was originally a secondary school teacher, and the fusion of the essence of the civilian intellectual and the identity of the military made his behavior full of deeper human values from the beginning. Obeying the orders of the superiors is not purely for military significance, but from a humanitarian point of view, saving one person's life is equivalent to saving an entire family.
Another character with a distinctive and impressive character is the Translator of German and French, Urban.
He was scolded by many as cowardly and cowardly. Seeing that he was afraid of delaying to save his teammates who were in deep trouble, resulting in the death of his teammates, I believe that many people could not help but be angry. And his kindness transcends the antagonism of the camps, and he will be soft on the enemy, give the prisoners of war water, chat with them, and even approve of letting them go.
Everyone wants to be a hero, but when we really go to the battlefield, maybe we are just weak Urban, and we may not be able to keep this goodness in our hearts.
The death of sniper Jackson is heart-wrenching. He likes to kiss a cross and praise God before aiming and shooting. His marksmanship was accurate and fierce, and he slept sweeter than anyone else because he was simple enough.
After firing 8 shots at the top of the tower in order to cover his comrades-in-arms, he was blown to pieces by the tanks on the ground, and just before the enemy opened fire, he also shouted loudly to his comrades around him, "Lie down!" ”
The road to rescuing Ryan is fraught with difficulties. The rescuers were praying, hoping that Ryan would be someone worth saving even if they sacrificed their teammates.
Ryan lived up to expectations, and he was indeed a brave and responsible soldier.
When the squad found him, Captain Miller informed him that all three of his brothers had been killed and that he had been ordered to send Ryan home safely.
Ryan was adamant about staying and fighting alongside his teammates. He said his mother at home would understand him and approve of his approach.
Captain Miller could not take Ryan with him, so he had to discuss countermeasures with his teammates. Two choices were in front of them: one was to go back, and the other was to stay and fight with him. Their choice is to stay. Because "so if one day we look back, we may feel that saving Private Ryan is a great masterpiece that we have accomplished in this war-torn era." ”
So, the squad that saved Ryan and Ryan stayed together to fight the final battle.
Their task was to hold a bridge in Lambler, and if the bridge was captured by the Germans, the Americans would retreat.
The last half hour of the film is more than half an hour of the bridge battle, echoing the Normandy beach landing battle at the beginning. Cruelty and tragedy are constant scenes of war. The sound of artillery, gunshots, the roar of tanks, and the sound of tears are the background sounds of war.
In addition to these two themes, the war scenes one after the other, the adventure in the middle, the core of the film is to convey the theme of human nature and the exploration of life.
Is there a difference between life and its weight? Ryan was human, as were the two teammates who died in the squad. American troops were human, as were captured German soldiers.
Whoever dies or lives, war is a massacre.
At the end of the film, the camera returns to the calm cemetery.
Old Man Ryan recovered from his poignant memories, and he remembered the Lambler Bridge, Captain Miller's dying instructions.
"James, don't let everyone down."
The elderly Ryan said slowly in front of Captain Miller's grave:
"I try my best to live my life every day, and hopefully it's enough, or at least it makes you feel that I'm not living up to everything you've done for me."