NO INTRODUCTION NEEDED REALLY: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

This is yet another one that most of us have seen by now. And yet another one I actually caught for the first time this week. Now, I do understand if you say it’s a little too Hollywood, you know, a little too “been there, done that”. I get it. Some people don’t fancy Hollywood that much, honestly I don’t blame them. But you really cannot just go tarring the entirety of Hollywood with the same brush as it were. In the context of Hollywood films, some directors come up with really spectacular works. True, you may feel you know the story already, but maybe there is something in the film itself that will make you go for it anyway, eh? A bit like The New World written above; we do know the story of this one. It is a pleasure to watch anyway. 1944 – D Day. While the American forces are faced with the undiluted horrors of the war, the results are creating their own tragedies back home. When the armed forces realize that three of the Ryan have been killed in the war, leaving their only surviving sibling among the parachuters who were accidentally dropped behind enemy lines, there seems to be only one thing to do. Send out a search party. Find Private Ryan. Send him home. For this, Captain John Miller (the legendary Tom Hanks) Is selected and told to assemble a team. The task in hand is dangerous, in their own words they are basically looking for a needle in a haystack of needles. They are not entirely sure why they are doing this and resentment for this Private Ryan is growing without even having met the man. It will take all of Miller’s skills as a leader if he is to see this mission to completion. Like I said, this is one of those films that remind us of the sacrifices of previous generations, the price of peace as it were. The criticism this kind of film usually receives is that it glorifies war and paints the whole situation in a far more rose tinted – if you will – light than it actually is. Spielberg isn’t having any of that. The landing sequence in D Day, depicting what happened on Omaha beach back in the day is now a thing of movie legend. And Spielberg was, I am reliably informed by the many books strewn around my desk, quite aware that the sequence was hard to watch. It was, however, a matter of principal. The other good thing about the film is that the team looking for Private Ryan is very, very human. By the middle of the mission they have ceased to care about the Private at all, in fact they are pretty sure he is insufferable. Captain Miller has to keep them in line the whole time, but the thing is he is just doing his duty too; he is just as sick of the mission but also wants to get the job done. It is true there are a few romantic “bits” in it, a few classic characters thrown in for good measure but hey, it’s a sweeping epic, I think we can give it that much… In general, the depictions are quite real and down to earth. And with the subject matter to hand of course, this makes the film a hard one to watch from time to time… But hey… totally worth it. Just bring tissues.