Review of Saving Private Ryan (1998) by Matthew E — 10 Aug 2017

Saving Private Ryan has taught a lot about how awful war is. Director Steven Spielberg, did a phenomenal job on portraying how gruesome and violent war is. Especially in the opening scene when the American troops are occupying Omaha Beach on D Day. The D Day scene of the movie was very surreal and it felt like as if the audience was in the battle. With artillery shells going off, machine gun bullets whizzing by, and seeing all the violence go on, it just seemed like a really scary but accurate portrayal of D Day. Many Allied troops died on D Day, yet it was the turning point of the war.Overall director Steven Spielberg did a wonderful job on creating this film. The movie covered on all points of how war can be so horrible. War is not only horrible because of mass casualties, but it is also horrible because of our own connections and feelings. Throughout this movie I felt like I built some type of emotional connection to each of the characters, and seeing the tragic events unfold made me realize that war is not only bad because of killing, it is also awful because we lose people that can mean something to us. With that being said, many young men, just getting out of high school were being sent to fight this war, but behind each and every one of them, there's someone who cares and loves them, like a family. Which is exactly the story behind Private Ryan, he was the last of the brothers in the family.

In the movie, all of the Ryan brothers die except for Private Ryan. He was the last man alive in the family to carry on the name. The main focus of the movie jumps right into action after the D Day scene when eight American troops are assigned to save Private Ryan, the last of the four brothers alive in the family, and bring him home. Many challenges are yet to be seen on these soldiers' journey to find this young man, and in the unfortunate fate of war, some of the soldiers will die on their way to find the Private. Throughout the whole movie, and even up to finding Private Ryan, we see a series of unfortunate events unfold, and once the group of men find Private Ryan, the plot becomes even more climatic, as the German forces close in om the American troops.

Saving Private Ryan was one of those movies that I could connect with so well, it tells a unique story and shows us all that war is awful. In fact, many people avoided watching this movie due to all of the gore and violence that was shown. It also taught me as an individual to appreciate our vets more, because without them our country wouldn't be where it is today. Steven Spielberg did such a fantastic job on covering the aspects of war, and as well as focusing on the plot of the movie.