I watched that movie last night. That one with Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. Saving Private Ryan. I am stunned. But not in the way you might think.
I found the combat scenes to be very disturbing. Having spent time in the military, it caused me understandable angst. Even though I never personally experienced people trying to kill me (I got out three months before Desert Shield), the feeling was very familiar--they reference the acronym FUBAR in the movie, and that almost nearly summed it up for me. (Personally, I prefer SNAFU--look them up on google if you don't know them already.)
The production team for the movie spared no detail from the combat scenes--barrels of blood, local military used as extras (including actual amputees for the oh-my-god-my-limb-has-just-been-blown-off scenes) and actual live fire of period weapons for sound. The combat was so accurate, the VA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) overstaffed their trauma 800-number and extended the hours after the release of the movie (see this VA newsletter, bottom of page six).
While for various reasons a discussion of the violence in the movie might be interesting, I was rather put off by the storytelling, and in particular, the end of the movie. If you haven't seen it (I know, you're rolling your eyes because I am the last person on the earth to have seeen this movie), there are spoilers coming, so scroll up or something if you don't want to read them.
Okay, here we go. I have conflicted opinions about the characters in the squad, and I have big problems with the unrealism of their task. (The army is disorganized so well, it installs steel plates in a glider that cause it to crash, but it will send eight men on a rescue extraction immediately following the largest invasion of the war? Hrm.) Here's my biggest gripe, though. I didn't want to hear, after all the shit this group of individuals had to go through for this one man who didn't even want to be rescued, that he should "earn" his life. And then see how that guilt had ridden on his back for sixty years.
I found Spielberg's preaching in Schindler's List to be effective once. Once. He saved 1,100 people from the Nazis, and all he could do at the end was cry: "This pin... This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one... I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I... I didn't!" It was novel in Schindler; I got it. I wanted to do more for others, and less for myself, than I had before (and I was doing a LOT at the time).
What should I take away from this film? An impression of the sacrifice of the men (and women) who served in times before so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have, or a feeling that I personally am not doing enough, am not good enough, am not living life as fully as I should? Spielberg claimed over and over that he wanted to make an authentic film with Ryan. Great. Then do that. Don't limit your 'authenticity' to the violence. Extend it to the story, the people. The movie would have been better--less Spielberg-y and Hollywood--and more real, more impacting, if they had just taken Miller's last words out of it. Let Ryan come to that conclusion himself. Skip the preaching.
Sorry, fans of the film. All I got out of it was a mild case of PTSD and a wish to be excluded from Spielberg films for a while. Especially after the last Indiana Jones fiasco.
5 years ago
4 comments:
Well, I have to agree with most of your evaluation of this film.
If you didn't realize, that right when this came out, there were a big old buttload of games that came out recreating the storing of the beach. It happened in Team Fortress mods, and hit other FPS games as well. Most of the mods even took the sounds right from the film. Medal of honor, Call of Duty, Team Fortress, Day of Defeat, the list goes on. The flood of games recreating this movie, plus the HBO series Band of Brothers flooded the market with WWII invasion overload capping the 60th anniversary of the invasion, and ending recently in the dedication of the WWII memorial on the Mall in DC.
I was overwhelmed with it all, and what was created in the film was over-saturated, and dumbed down, and, well, you get the idea. Scores of online blogs, magazines, etc etc pleaded the game makers, movie makers et. al to stop making WWII crap, because it was just too much.
So, at least for me, after all that over-saturation, going back to the original film is quite nice.
I agree that throughout the film, there are lots of vinettes(?) that are well done, spotted here and there with poorly choreographed, and poorly written absurdities, including the aforementioned final words.
I have to mention that one of the hardest parts for me to watch is the scene when the medic gets shot, brilliantly portrayed by Giovanni Ribisi. the gore in this scene is gut turning, and the emotional elements of it are gut wrenching.
As is with all films, putting together a comprehensive story inside of two hours is incredibly difficult.
So I have to suggest you watch the Band of Brothers series, as it seems to take the best of the Ryan movie, and develops the characters much better, sets them in a much more believable scenario, and steers a little further away from the goofy preaching.
Might I also suggest that in the last 15 years the Vietnam War was over-saturated with everything from TV series to films, books, games and comics. One film lost in the chaff was Hamburger Hill, which, according to my ROTC Sgt back in the day, who was actually there, in that unit, during that campaign, is pretty darned accurate, and a lot less preachy.
You should watch it with a kick ass surround sound system. Ups the combat intensity 3 fold at least.
Well supported, Mr. Yen. I would be interested to know your thoughts after viewing The Deer Hunter.
In the meantime, Jonathan's mention of TFC led me to find this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRsexrhbG8
Which led me to a video of Me and Dave on our last day working together!!!!
COOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gk_9xbAFyg&feature=related
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