Trying to determine the best war film has become, in fairly mainstream circles, almost as popular and pointless an activity as trying to determine the best film itself; in almost every attempt that I’ve seen, Saving Private Ryan has been mentioned. Whether or not it is the best film ever made about war, or even World War II, will probably never be safely assured (to be completely frank, it almost certainly isn’t, as most of the really angry and pathos-ridden films on the subject came out of Eastern Europe). But Saving Private Ryan’s place in history has been secured not by its technical achievements or its advancements in public understanding of the war (both of which considerable), but in its ability to embody seemingly conflicting American ideals about warfare without ever contradicting itself or imploding under the weight of the national mythos that it effortlessly evokes.
The opening of Ryan depicts the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944; D-Day as it has been dubbed. Aside from being a technically brilliant set-piece (even without 3D, the only film to rival its immersive quality since its release is Avatar), it also represents one of the boldest narrative risks in Spielberg’s career. The scene has literally almost nothing to do with the rest of the film, but it manages to introduce us to all of our major characters, and it establishes the battleground that the film is going to be fighting on. According to all American accounts of the war, the Normandy invasion was its turning point, the moment when the chaotic Old World was invaded by the freshness and vigor of the new one, and the fate of fascism in Europe was sealed. It was a bold and risky move, but it paid dividends, and became a defining event in the American imagination for the remainder of the twentieth century. There are innumerable examples of this to be found throughout news media, but it is best, whenever possible, to cite another film; consider Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) in Stand By Me, who speaks of his father’s death on the beaches of Normandy with an almost unnerving confidence and pride.
This mission, costly and taxing though it may have been, is followed up with one that equals it inch for inch in gutsy bravado, but is essentially worthless with regards to tactical significance: retrieving private James Ryan (Matt Damon) from behind enemy lines, for no other reason than that his brothers were killed. It’s incredibly dangerous, and appears to serve no need other than the generally insatiable appetite for heroic deeds that movie soldiers are known to have; one can imagine Rambo or William James (Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker) approving of the mission. But instead of a singular warrior figure, the task falls to a haphazardly constructed platoon still reeling from the destruction of D-Day, composed of Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks), Sergeant Mike Horvath (Tom Sizemore), Private Richard Reiben (Edward Burns), Private Daniel Jackson (Barry Pepper), Private Stanley Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Private Adrian Caparzo (Vin Diesel), Medic Irwin Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), and Corporal Timothy P. Upham (Jeremy Davies).
To Spielberg’s great credit, he never tells us whether the mission is worth it or not, casting it instead in a harsh light of ambivalence that foreshadows his later Munich, in many ways this film’s spiritual brethren. Even when Miller and others make the typically longwinded speeches about why saving private Ryan is necessary, they invoke an inner need to redeem and define themselves rather than anything moral or practical, much as Avner suspects that his countrymen have done at the end of that film. In a much-criticized scene, he is haunted by visions of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics after returning home to his wife and child. Even after the numerous horrible things that he’s seen and done, his nightmare is still a national one, a common memory that unites him with his people and acts as a defining event that births the consciousness of a new generation of countrymen who are at once connected to the past and divided from it by the gulf that this singular action has created. There was before this, and there was after this, and never the two shall meet.
For many Americans, Saving Private Ryan serves the same function as Avner’s nightmare, reminding us of the horrific violence that was incurred in an event that, even for the millions that weren’t there, shaped much of our lives. It is for this reason that Ryan speaks across political and generational boundaries (Spielberg is a well known Democrat, while this is also the favorite film of George W. Bush) in a way that no other film has, for it allows us to feel in equal measure ambivalent about the task that was performed while proud to have descended from those who summoned the courage to do it.
DVD Bonus Features:
This Blu-ray set features a second disc for special features, a number of which have been carried over from the DVD release. Both the theatrical and the rerelease trailer have been included, as well as a good number of short making of featurettes, covering the different technical aspects of the making of the film. Shooting War, a documentary about combat photographers is also included.
"Saving Private Ryan" is on sale May 4, 2010 and is rated R. War. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Robert Rodat. Starring Dennis Farina, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Matt Damon, Paul Giamatti, Ted Danson, Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg.
