Spielberg revisits WW2 with heroic honors

Rating: 10/10 (26 March 2008)

1993 saw the premier of "Schindler's List", Spielberg's bracing and emotionally scorching story about Oskar Schindler. 1998 he re-visits World War 2 and produces an equally powerful story about the saving of one man's life in the midst of post D-day battles. It is an appropriate temptation to compare his two seminal WW2 films, both such very powerful dramatic stories. Both concern themselves with salvation, with Schindler on the large scale and Ryan just one man. In the process of saving the many Jews he did Schindler was also somewhat successful in redeeming the moribund humanity within him. Tom Hanks' character in Ryan (Cpt. John Miller) does not need personal redemption or salvation because he is a good man who does not shirk from the weight of difficult missions and onerous responsibilities. However, in the midst of what appears to be an utterly mad task by his crew, we do wonder if any of them are transformed in a positive way? We know from the opening moments of the film that Private Ryan himself lived the remainder of his life with doubt as to whether the risk to save him and the cost to the small band of soldiers was worth the price paid? Carrying the survivors guilt heavily upon his shoulders, Ryan greatly struggles to lift the doubts as he confronts Miller's grave. It is a question that Spielberg leaves in an ambiguous state, left for the viewer to contemplate.
As a drama I found the script believable, even if within the confines of a very important battle it stretches credibility to imagine that it could have happened. I do not know if it is in whole or partially based on a true story. I just had to accept that it might have happened even if far fetched. Spielberg has almost no peer as a story teller in film. I am reminded of the moment in the film where Miller thinks he has found the correct Pvt Ryan, proceeds to tell the hapless soldier the bad news, sits and watches him take the news with a wincing pain and then finds out he has the wrong man. The emotional roller coaster is incredibly wrenching to watch and think about. The actors handle it superbly and to Spielberg's credit, once the point has been made the scene moves on, with the story lurching forward to the point, the finding of Ryan.
The special effects have been the subject of much praise. I'd have to say that the opening sequence is about as shocking and gruesome a depiction of war in it's ferocious misery as you can imagine. It sets the tone for what is to come; much close at hand battles and a lot of people dying. As the great Civil War Union General Sherman was known to have said: "You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it." and "There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all Hell." These sentiments overhang the entire movie and limit the usual tendency of Spielberg to drift into sentimentality. We are given enough of an immersion into the gore of war and all that remains is hell.
The movie wants to focus on Tom Hanks and from some points of view it does. However, I think that this is the obvious reaction. You watch this film a few times and you begin to notice how many fascinating and well developed characters come to life. There is so much room in this film to be inclusive and generous with character development and Spielberg takes full advantage. Even the German soldier that Miller saves (another soul saved at the least opportune time, in the most surprising of circumstances) remains much more than a cipher. He returns to duty and the duty is to kill Allied soldiers. Was Miller a dreamy fool, a morally rigid person? Why did he let the soldier go free when the battle had cost him a very valuable soldier in his unit? What is Spielberg saying here? Why save this man's life and also save Pvt Ryan's life? It is left unexplained and even as that characters resolution comes, we are left scratching our heads, wondering what to make of it. I think that ambiguity is appropriate for the madness of the battle. When in extreme moments of great stress, people often reach decisions that they would never consider if posed in a quiet moment. All of this sits firmly within the overall question that hangs over the film. Should Pvt Ryan be saved and at what cost? Should the German soldier not be saved and why shouldn't he have been taken prisoner to be given over to authorities later on? In one his strongest and finest roles, surrounded by outstanding actors who all deliver 100%, given a huge landscape full of boffo special effects, Tom Hanks carries an important film forward into a tragic but believable ending. War is the great leveler and who survives and who dies is an imponderable question. Coming away from this emotionally draining film, we do wonder. A classic, worthy of all it's awards. Stick around for the credits as John Williams ends the movie with a very stirring choral piece.