Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is a movie that generates strong responses from most people that see it. While interviewing four individuals and reading three movie reviews, I found that each of my subjects would recommend it, not one of the individuals interviewed felt the violence was senseless, and all of them left the movie with a strong emotional response of some kind. It appears that Saving Private Ryan is the kind of movie to which many can relate.

Saving Private Ryan is not a romantic, feel-good movie, but it is probably one of the best movies released this year. It is without a doubt one of the most realistic films produced. Each person that I spoke with, and all three of the internet criticisms that I read voiced positive opinions about this movie. It has different types of entertainment for all kinds of viewers. It has elements of violence, patriotism, sentimentality, and heroism all rolled into one film. All of my subjects, including the internet critics, feel that Saving Private Ryan will receive many awards, and that it is a credit to Steven Spielberg as a director. When asked if they would recommend the film to another each of my interviewees responded positively.

One widely talked about part of this film is the huge degree of violence. In this case however, contrary to the usual attitudes, the violence is not described as senseless or excessive by anyone that I spoke with. This movie is obviously set against the backdrop of World War II, beginning with D-Day and the battle of Omaha Beach. The killing appears to be overdone as the young men step off the transport boats only to be killed one after the other, but when consulting the history of this battle, it is almost exactly how this battle took place. The beaches were indeed covered with bodies, and the water was red with the blood of the slaughtered soldiers. The recreation of this battle by Steven Spielberg has succeeded in bringing this war, this battle in particular, out of the history books