Theme of sacrifice

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2012)

The film Saving Private Ryan(Spielberg, 1998) follows a squad of soldiers led by Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks. The squad is sent on a risky mission to locate and return Private Ryan, played by Matt Damon. Ryan has lost multiple siblings in various theaters of WWII, thus earning him a ticket home. He is however lost somewhere in France following a messy D-Day assault. The theme focuses on the sacrifices made by brothers in arms and the idea of earning what was paid for in blood.
Upon initially learning of the mission, the squad balks at the idea of risking an entire squad to save one man. As the squad proceeds with the mission, they convey through speech and actions that they hope to earn the right to return home, and grudgingly come to terms with the mission. However, a repeating motif in the film is that despite trying to apply the moral and ethical solution to a problem, the end result is often a large, unrewarding sacrifice. For example, Vin Diesel as Private Caparzo attempts to rescue and take with them a young girl at the request of her family. In the confusion and stress of the scene, a sniper shoots Caparzo. Additionally, when the squad later encounters a German machine gun bunker, the squad reluctantly decides to attack, hoping to prevent a future ambush. The end result is the death of the medic, Wade. Furthermore, a German soldier captured during the assault is released, and later kills Private Mellish in a different battle. Despite their willing sacrifice, the end result is often negative. This is in contrast to many other war films where sacrifice immediately pays off, such as Enemy at the Gates (Annaud, 2001), in which the sniper Vassili is able to locate an enemy sniper after his friend sacrifices himself by allowing the enemy to shoot him.
Not only does the film do an excellent job of visually depicting the horrors of war, but it also uses a keen detail to sound to further the experience and elaborate on the fear and stress of a war time setting. From the pings of spent ammo clips to the realistic thuds of ricochets', the sound envelops the viewer. A particularly striking scene occurs after the squad has located Private Ryan, yet are compelled to stay and help a grossly undermanned and under gunned group of soldiers defend a vital bridge from approaching Germans. As the group waits in silence to ambush the approaching German armor, a low, screeching mechanical sound can be heard in the distance. The sound becomes increasingly loud and menacing as the Germans approach, and the viewer is filled with a sense of dread, reiterated by the facial emoting of the actors. It is clear by the sound they are dealing with a very powerful force, and do not have the means to make it a fair fight, yet they must stay and fight. This scene would have lost much of its power and influence without the dramatic build up from sounds effects.
Ultimately, much of the squad is sacrificed and Captain Miller implores Private Ryan to earn this chance at life that he has been given, and live a good life. After a tremendous amount of sacrifice, a positive result finally comes to fruition. However, as indicated in the final scene, an aged Ryan is plagued by the burden of being a lucky survivor, and is in constant inner turmoil over whether or not he had earned what so many others had sacrificed for.
Spielberg, S (Director), Rodat, R (Writer). (1998). Saving Private Ryan (DVD). United States: DreamWorks.
Annaud, J (Director), Annaud,J(Writer). (2001). Enemy at the Gates(DVD). United States: Paramount Pictures.