Analysis Of Saving Private Ryan And The Thin Red Line

The soldiers begin advancing and finally reach the bunker, they kill some of the Japanese soldiers and others begin to surrender. As the other soldiers catch up and reach the newly captured area we see the Japanese prisoners scared, crying, praying they were malnourished and slowly dying. The colonel then says he wishes to continue moving even though the men need water, he decided to wait an hour and then move forward. They talk about the glory that awaits them and the awards they will get. However, behind the talk of glory we can see the toll the battle took on the men, as war is all suffering. The colonel then relives captain Staros of his duty believing him to be too soft to lead. There is some truth to what the colonel tell him, nature …show more content…
War is not just a display of patriotism it must bring hard questions to those soldiers who part take in the war and The Thin Red Line presents their questions through the narration throughout the movie, the narrator is different every time, but the theme of the narration remains the same about what war does to a person. The narration presented itself as the collective consciousness of all soldiers in time of war as they share such a profound experience. The title The Thin Red Line refers to the point of no return, it infers to the point men reach in war that they might not return either they die or the war impacts them so much that they will never be the same. These soldiers walk on such a thin line it is so easy to die or lose their selves to the …show more content…
A review of The Thin Red Line by Michael McGonigle makes a clear point about the presentation of the film “there is no historical device like tittle cards or narration to put the time period into context, no solemn music or waving flags; there isn’t even an opening battle, just a shot of a crocodile sliding silently into a swamp” in essence it portrays man’s reflection of war not that of a nation or anything greater. The soldiers are not shown thinking about their country or glory, but of their very humanity. When Lieutenant Whyte sends two soldiers to their deaths and then has to send more forward we see a horror in his eyes that he lead two men to their graves. Captain Staros refused to move forward and lead dozens of men to their graves to take a bunker that he felt was not worth the lives of his men. The reluctance to risk his men’s lives shows us a side of war movies do not focus on, he questioned the entire mission in that scene, there is no wrong or right to his action simply a moment of distress from a man who could not risk his fellow soldiers lives. In Saving Private Ryan we see a very different presentation of the rational of the soldiers in the mission. During their mission Captain Miller never questions his mission, he followed orders until the end. In Saving Private Ryan the end goal of the mission is the focus while complications and