Maggie Gondeck
Film as an Art and Communication
November 1, 2012
Film Analysis 3- Saving Private Ryan
Steven Spielberg is a very well-known director and his repertoire of films is nothing to
ignore. He directed Saving Private Ryan which was released in 1998 and won five Oscars.
Saving Private Ryan was distributed by both Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks
Entertainment together. Saving Private Ryan is credited with contributing to resurgence in
America's interest in World War II. Old and new films, video games, and novels about the war
enjoyed renewed popularity after its release.
It is said that some veterans ha a very hard time watching this movie because of how well
the movie captured what really happened. I’m not a veteran and I had a hard time watching this
film. War isn’t pretty and after watching this movie I’m more aware of the terrible horrors that
our veterans had to live through. I can’t say that this is a movie I will watch over and over again,
but I did enjoy watching it because of how well it was done. I felt like I was there at some points
of the movie.
The opening minutes of the movie begin on the morning of June 6, 1944, the beginning
of the Normandy invasion, where American soldiers prepare to land on Omaha Beach. They
struggle against dug-in German infantry, machine gun nests, and artillery fire, which wipe out
many of the men. Captain John H. Miller, the company commander of Charlie Company, 2nd
Ranger Battalion, survives the initial landing and assembles a group of soldiers to penetrate the
German defenses, leading to a breakout from the beach. In France, three days after D-Day,
Miller receives orders to find Private Ryan. He assembles six men from his company plus one
detailed from the 29th Infantry Division, a clerk who speaks fluent French and German, to
accomplish the task. With no information about Private Ryan's whereabouts, Miller and his men
move out to find him. They locate a Private James Frederick Ryan from Minnesota, but soon
realize that he's not their man. Once they reach the rally point where Private Ryan was supposed
to be, Miller locates a friend of Private Ryan's, who reveals that Private Ryan is defending a
strategically important bridge over the Merderet River in the town of Ramelle. The squad finally
arrives on the outskirts of Ramelle, where they come upon three paratroopers ambushing a
German half-track. Among the paratroopers is Private Ryan. After entering Ramelle, Private
Ryan is told of his brothers' deaths, and their mission to bring him home, and that two lives had
been lost in the quest to find him. The bridge that Private Ryan and what is left of his company
are trying to guard falls under attack. Captain Miller and his men team up with Private Ryan and
his company to help guard the bridge. While the bridge is being attacked most of the men die,
including Captain Miller. However before Captain Miller dies he says to Private Ryan “James
earn this…earn it.”
Diegetic sound is the sound that is actually there in the scene. It is not added music or
exaggerated sound effects. Those sounds are classified as non-diegetic. Steven Spielberg uses
non-diegetic sound in a very effective way. The use of the musical score, written by John
Williams, is very effective. The whole movie is not overrun by music or added sounds. The only
time you hear non-diegetic music is in certain scenes and its purpose is to intensify the actions
going on in the scene. The use of no sound or very quiet, distant sound is used in a couple scenes
where Captain Miller cannot hear because of something that went off right by his head. This also
intensifies the scene because the audience gets the opportunity to hear what Captain Miller is
going through.
Overall the use of sound is very realistic and believable in Saving Private Ryan. The
sounds of the war are spot on and the language used throughout the film matches that of the time
period that the war took place in. It is a very accurate rendition of the war and it is a very moving
movie.
"Saving Private Ryan." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/>.