‘Saving Private Ryan’
By Holly Towler
Steven Spielberg's masterpiece Saving Private Ryan earned itself 5 academy awards, including the best director award in 1998. The all-star cast starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and more brings to life the horror of war. Seen through the eyes of an American soldier; the story begins with World War 2’s historic D-Day invasion. We follow captain Miller (Tom Hanks) and his soldiers as they battle their way on to Omaha beach. In the past war films were all about shocking horror and a hero-based movie. But this movie is different it captures the true chaos of war. Saving Private Ryan brings back to life the real heroes that fought in the war.
The film ‘Saving Private Ryan’ opens with an establishing shot, which includes a close up of a muted American flag. The flag is muted because it is a sign of patriotism and respect. This is accompanied with somber music to make the scene very emotive and serious. This opening shows us that the film is not going to be like the rest, it is unique. Spielburg also said “ the last thing I wanted to do in this picture was use the war simply as a spring board for action adventure. I was looking …show more content…
The music and sound stops, and we see all of the men being shot and all we see is death and fear. A man looking for his arm a trying to find someone to put it back on is shown. The captain see’s a boat and several mean on fire, this shows American soldiers seem to be nothing compared to the German’s. German’s control the beach. The captain puts his helmet on, and we see a soldier trying to say something but we cannot hear him. As the sound returns, the soldier asks the captain again, “what the hell do we do now sir ?” there are men turning to the scared and confused captain miller for help. There is a panning shot which follows the captain as he makes his way further into the beach. Next a long shot is shown whilst the captain is explaining the