Representation Of War In Saving Private Ryan

The representation of war in: Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line War films at times fail to capture the true essence of war, capturing the torment that war inflicts on individuals and groups is difficult to capture. The Thin Red Line presents itself as close to the reality of war that it can. It has no plot or pain characters instead men in a constant state of dread not knowing what will happen next. Saving Private Ryan however, is very different, there is fear and anger throughout the movie, but there the main characters have determination and are confident in completing their mission. When you place Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line besides one another you see sharp differences in the depiction of war, what it means …show more content…
As everyone is engaged in the fighting, Captain Miller takes reassurances to make sure Private Ryan does not die. Everyone else is fighting for their lives and Private Ryan’s life even though Captain Miller holds Ryan down from the fight. The team’s translator is having a panic attack, as he is terrified of dying and killing. Even as he knows one of his comrades is fighting to stay alive the translator is too afraid to act and allows the German to kill him. The translator stays by the stair case crying however, after the Germans surrender he rounds up the prisoners and once he recognizes the man who he let go he kills him without a second thought. This is a sharp transition from the boy who would not execute a prisoner of war in the start of the war. It presents a development that war drastically changes soldiers making it almost impossible to remain who you were surrounded by pain and death. The translator was an idealist trying to do the right thing like Witt in The Thin Red Line. Sergeant Welsh saw him as an idealistic boy who does not belong in the army and he feared that the war would kill him because of his idealism and in the end Welsh buried his body. Although the translator survived a part of him died in that battle. Captain Miller is wounded and as he dies he tell Ryan to earn the life he was given by those who died for him. Earlier in the film he says “This Ryan better be worth it. He better go home and cure some disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb, or something. Because to tell you the truth, I wouldn 't trade ten Ryans for one Vecchio or one Caparz”