“I was looking for realism all the time”
The movie begins with camera slowly zooming in onto a freckled face of an elderly man. Then fused through the eyes we see an American Squad on a Higgins Boat minutes before landing in Omaha beech. This connection between an elderly manna a thunderous past in the army starts to suggest to the viewers who the elderly man might be and gives a cursory to the main Characters.
A close up of Captain Miller trembling clearly expresses authenticity of the action and the uncertain future which ahead of the men.
The mood is dreaded which in fact really points what real atmosphere in world war two would have been. This accompanied with sounds of rough waves crashing and men vomiting exhibit an ominous sense of danger and death.
It’s followed by instant chaos which is exceedingly rapid and striking. The close up of soldiers getting shot and bullets shredding the helmets over a long period of time which shows Spielberg’s chaotic mind and expresses the sorrow and pain every one suffered in world war two.
“I wanted to put chaos up on the screen same as those green recruits that were on those Higgins boat and had never seen combat before. It was complete chaos.”
The scene also shows the Germans perspective which demonstrates the German’s commanding positions furthermore shows how little chance the green recruits have of surviving the devastating attack.
The dominating soundtrack of artillery fire hitting objects and shrapnel flying around emphasis on the scene being realistic. The soldiers soon dive for cover in the rough sea.
The handheld camera plunges with the soldiers giving the audience their perspective. This range of high and low perspective gives us an effective overview if the carnage. This camera work also suggests we (the audience) are there to witness the devastation.
“I wanted to hit the sets much like a newsreel cameraman following soldiers into war”
Spielberg’s intricate technique of handheld camera shows massacre of the soldiers on Omaha beach. This makes an effective part of the opening; presenting realistic battle scenes also shows the lost cause the Americans are fighting for on D-DAY.
Captain Miller’s initial reaction to the carnage and annihilation comes as a shock to the audience; he gawps at the battlefield and cannot believe it; this shows an experience captain tumbling and falling stunned by the war therefore emphasising the danger the green recruits and the rest of the soldiers are in.
Jerky slow motion shots capture miller’s expression as he gasps for breath and accompanied by the muted sound they produce a realistic figure of the senseless bloodshed at Omaha beach.
We see a different view from Miller’s shoulders this shifting of camera alternatively spliced together gives us Miller’s perspective. We (the audience) realise although miller is not a raw recruit he is still shocked beyond belief.
In my opinion this is highlights gruesome realties of war which other war movies should follow. Although I also believe at some stages Spielberg could have kept the pace constant when focusing on Miller’s expressions to keep the tempo moving rather a sluggish motion.
Barely recovering from the senseless scenes we are pounded by with unforgettable, bloody images of bodies being slashed to chunks by bullets, limbs blown off, guts spilling out followed by various other examples of butchery.
We then see a young soldier asking for orders silently, we cannot hear him; this almost made me personally shout a reply out to the screen.
The bottled sound continues.
The silence breaks as we hear heavy thuds of bombshells exploding and bombshells zipping at a rapid creating a sense of danger intensifying.
Captain tips out the bloody water out of his helmet as he tries to regain control. Here we see a voice over as the soldiers voice is heard over the artillery fire.
This creates an oblivious point that the soldier’s statement must be important. As soon as Miller gets a grip he advances with his men into position yet all this suggests is nothing more than war is not something to glorify.
The last sector of the opening twenty minutes shows the end of battle. This may be relief to some people but Spielberg uses this opportunity to show another close up of Miller’s hand shaking which is a recurrent theme in the movie representing terror and fear within the soldiers.
Gentle music brings in relief but not before a long shot of the horrific dead bodies being washed away by the crimson sea.
The long shot and melancholy music strikes us with the enormity of the disaster. This illustrates the authenticity of the entire event and lets us re-live the terrible era of world war two.
Finally the camera declines into a close up onto a backpack o a lying dead body. It read in bold ‘R.RYAN’. This is James Ryan’s brother’s backpack which reminds us of the original objective.
To put it all together the opening twenty minutes shows us atrocious and barbarous images utilizing other methods to capture the fundamental nature of battle - hand-held cameras, a slight speeding up of the images, muted colors, and several different kinds of techniques which by far shows realism whereas the overall film moves towards opinion rather facts.
I personally believe it is without doubt the most violent, gory, visceral depiction of war that I have ever witnessed on screen and Spielberg did as he said “Put chaos up on the screen”.
Lastly I judge this to be a fantastic movie achieving a judicious point of view on war although it doesn’t answer the film's fundamental question -When is one life more significant than another?
