Filmmaking is a complex initiative that brings the creators and the cast together to reach the viewers and create an impact on the society. In the United States of America, for example, the war films can be classified in their own genre with each drawing inspiration from the past events to connect fact with fiction in the production. This essay aims at undertaking a critical analysis of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan to understand the various mechanisms that have been brought into play in order to effectively communicate the message. Although the film is based on fiction to a great extent, there are certain factual scenes that enhance a connection between the film and the American society.
Released in 1998 in the United States, the Spielberg film features Tom Hanks as Captain Miller leading his troop against the Germans in World War II. The Normandy invasion by the Americans leaves many soldiers dead with three Ryan brothers among them while the fourth is confronting the enemy at a strategic bridge. Apparently, the odds are against the Americans and the surviving Ryan has to be brought home. However, he chooses to stay and fight leaving the troop with no option but to fight alongside him. Eventually, the Normandy war is about ensuring that Ryan gets out alive.
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Allusion is a prominent feature in the film considering that it refers to an actual war that took place in 1944. The direct reference always draws the viewers to identify with the situation, compelling them to adopt the story as a recreation history. Whereas the film has been judged as 90 percent fiction, there is factual reference to the Normandy events at the opening and the ending with the depiction of the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. Ryan, the veteran in the fictional story visits the scene to pay homage to the soldiers who died fighting to bring him home. It is a scene that draws many Americans to identify with the film, especially the old who were either directly or indirectly involved in the war.
The camera crew is also effective in placing the camera in a way that effectively tells the war story and the aftermath. At the cemetery scene, for example, the wide angle camera is used to inform the viewer of the thousands of graves that are as a result of the war. It would have a different effect on the viewer if the camera only focused on Miller’s grave. However, the close up shot has also been employed to identify Ryan s. who is one of the three dead Ryans. This shot pins down to the specific, informing the viewers of what the film is all about.
From the recreation of the American landings on the Ohama Beach under Captain Goranson at the beginning of the film, Saving Private Ryan the film comes out as historically significant about the Normandy war. In this light, many viewers have referred to it in order to understand what transpired. Considering that there are many films about the American wars, Spielberg comes out as a genius to captivate the Americans by incorporating fact with fiction. More so, a lot of costumes such as the uniform and war machines are the same used in the actual war making his work more truthful in the portrayal of war. The success of the film in America and worldwide affirms that it had a unique way of representing the war.
Indeed, Steven Spielberg is a genius who has effectively reenacted the occurrences of the Normandy war through an incorporation of fact and fiction. By opening and closing the film with scenes from the actual cemetery that was as a result of the war, the producer brings the viewers to identify with the production as a historical artifact. The cameras have also been incorporated to present the language of the shot with different angles serving different purposes. More so, the Ohama landing’s recreation serves as a crucial reference that makes the film historically significant.
References
Spielberg, S. (1998). Saving Private Ryan . Amblin Entertainment. United States.
