Analysis Of Saving Private Ryan By Steven Spielberg

Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg, depicts war, especially World War II, in a brutally honest fashion. The Omaha Beach landing scene is emblematic of this brutal honesty. This roughly thirty-minute excerpt is both an exemplary bit of cinema and a largely faithful re-enactment of an historical event. The power of this scene’s soundtrack lies in the fact that it does not even exist. There is literally no background music whatsoever to play with the audience’s emotions. Instead the viewer is exposed full throttle to the sounds of war: gunfire, screaming for help, explosions, bursts of flame, and jarring silence. The most poignant moments are those which are presented to the viewer in silence. Just as the soldiers on screen are …show more content…
Where inaccuracies do occur they are mostly understandable given the limitations of cinema and the interest of entertainment. The beach is set up accurately with battery and machine gun emplacements placed on a rise, barbed wire set in place to halt advancement, mines spread out here and there, and hedgehogs made of girders to stop watercraft. When the battle does start there is no attention given to preliminary bombardment, but what bombardment did occur in real life was largely ineffectual and scattered. Many of the soldiers are shown being shot up in their boats and drowning before they can even reach the beach, which did happen. Guns are covered in a plastic wrap to prevent water damage. There are no tanks present unfortunately, and those did prove helpful in real life. Most of the other equipment is present though, such as bangalores. The soldiers are unmovable for a time due to shock until a commanding officer takes action. The battle in real life was as intense and bloody as this film depicts. All of the soldiers being played are fictional and compounded personalities, but a movie cannot hope to move along at a reasonable pace and show everyone involved. Some enemy combatants in real life did actually surrender as depicted, and soldiers then were potentially as enthusiastic about destroying the enemy. The battle, which in real life was hours long, takes about thirty minutes to finish in this scene, but this film as a whole is not merely concerned with the developments of a single battle. Points at which the film fails to be completely accurate are forgivable given the overall quality of