It breaks some of the traditional conventions of war as it takes away the heroics, and there is more blood and gore.
There are many well-known stars in this epic adventure, some of the most prominent are:
• Tom Hanks - Captain John H. Miller, a former school teacher from Pennsylvania who keeps his life private from his squadron.
• Edward Burns - Private Richard Reiben, from Brooklyn. BAR Gunner and a nutty man trying to understand the purpose of their mission. The sole survivor of the Ranger unit.
• Tom Sizemore - Master Sgt. Michael Horvath, M1 Carbine Rifleman and Miller's number two guy.
• Matt Damon - Private James Francis Ryan, Paratrooper Rifleman
• Jeremy Davies - Corporal Timothy E. Upham -- not originally in Miller's company, he is attached to the squadron by Miller to be used as a language translator.
• Adam Goldberg - Private Stanley Mellish, a Jewish Rifleman.
• Nathan Fillion - Minnesota Private Ryan, Rifleman
The release date for this movie was July 24, 1998. The film was shot in England, Ireland, and France. An approximate budget was $70 million. The film made more than $215 million at the domestic box office and nearly $375 million worldwide. In preparation for their roles, the actors went through a week of boot camp with retired Marine Dale Dye-- except Matt Damon (Private Ryan), who was excused from the training so that a real-life hatred of him by the others would be formed. D day, June 6, 1944, was the largest invasion in military history--175,000 soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force invaded Normandy.
In the first scene, we see the flag of the USA, while patriotic music is playing in the background, it shows the focus of the scene, and tells the audience the focal point of the movie. There are extreme close-ups of his face; this technique is used to show the expressions upon his face. The hand-held camera, at the back of the group gives us a feeling that we are there, and gives him superiority. As the family reaches the cemetery, we see tombstones, not a few, but rows and rows filled with them. They are not the traditional gravestones, which show the name, date of birth, etc… of the person, but are just symbols of faith (e.g. the cross, for Christianity). When the people gather around the one tombstone, the mid-angled shot is used. It shows the rows of tombstones, which emphasizes how many people were killed on D day. The man falls to his knees, indicating his emotions, his family approach him, patting him, comforting him. Again, an extreme close-up on his face is used showing his expressions. During the transition, we hear crashing waves, it adds to the effect that we are there. This signifies that we are going to the past; it is almost as if we are reading his mind.
As the second phase starts, we see the waves; the colours have changed dramatically, from bold bright colours, to monotonous, dull colours. We see distinctive and weird shapes, which contrasts against the blue sky. The violent environmental comparison destroys the peace of the previous scene. There is no speech, we only terrified people, who’s faces look almost green, this is used to build up apprehension. There are armed personal soldiers, some soldiers cross themselves, they kiss the cross, this is called symbolism; they believe that the cross can protect them as it is the symbol of their religion and it contains the protection of God. This is also dramatic irony, as soon as the audience sees this scene, they know that something big is going to happen. Close-up shots of the face are used, we see that the soldiers are fearful, they know that they could die at any moment, yet they are willing to take this risk for their country. They are not prepared for what is going to happen when the door goes down; this is the most likely reason for the instant deaths of some soldiers when it does. We hear immediate gunshots and explosion. The sound also changes as you go in and out of the water, and we hear a sort of pressurized splashing noise as a sound effect. This scene feels realistic to the audience because we hear what the soldiers will hear. As some of the soldiers die the camera loses focus on them and moves towards those who are still alive, this continues for awhile showing that the that even when some die, the war will still continue. The camera continues to follow the soldiers who remain alive until they reach the shore and rise out of the blood filled ocean waves. There are many dead bodies just lying on the beach and some being drifted still on the waters surface, sliding up the shore. This was shown to emphasize the loss of life, in particular the U.S. loss. Suddenly, when the camera comes out of the water with the soldiers, everything speeds up again and there is a burst of sound effects including gunfire, shouting, explosions, orders and the sound of bullets as they hit the iron hedgehogs. The soldiers arriving at the beach take cover behind these and we see Captain Miller now, staggering up onto the shore. This shot starts a few feet away form Captain Miller. It then moves slowly in towards him and becomes a long angle shot. The camera then goes jerky as it moves to a close up of his face. The sound is then muted and at this moment Captain Miller begins to look around the beach, seeing his soldiers die, all this is very difficult for the Captain to handle, and he begins to go into his own world. This is done to show how confused he is, and his bewilderment is isolating him from reality. By doing this, Speilberg has shown the frustration going through his mind. The sounds can barely be heard, they seem to slow down, and any sound effect is as though it is being dragged on for as twice as long. We see one man walking around aimlessly who is missing an arm, he finds his arm on the ground, picks it up and rushes off in a random direction.
During the end of the battle, we again see dead bodies being washed up towards shore, indicating the devastating effects of this hard fought battle. The water is also red, emphasizing the bloodshed caused by the Germans. They finally surrender as they know that the battle is out of their reach, but the Americans, carry on shooting, more out of frustration and anger, then anything else. One of the American soldiers mocks a dead German, this adds humour to the scene, which heavily contrasts to a couple of minutes before, where everyone is serious, and are showing no mercy.
All in all, the opening scene, where the family are walking towards the cemetery, does not prepare me for what it had in store, the battle. The two scenes contrast vigorously, the first scene, has bold, bright colours, it is peaceful and slow, involving the audience emotionally. The second scene, on the other hand, consists of tedious colours, where it is dull and boring. But there is a lot of action, lots of blood, lots of gore, and these factors highlight the ferocity of the situation. It was very realistic and shocking, the phrase, ‘seeing is believing’ is what it is all about. So far, I had only heard about the D Day landings, but after seeing this part of the movie, I now know what it felt like to be there, to be part of it, and this is mainly due to the fact that hand-held cameras where used, these camera techniques involved the audience as it makes them feel as if they are really there. Speilberg successfully succeeds in putting ‘chaos on screen’. Again, the methods used to recreate this dramatic event are effective, as it shows us what it was like to be part of the action.
