The setting of the memorial site tells the audience a lot about the war to come, as it shocks the sheer reality of the number of deaths caused into the audience’s mind, as there is a shot of the memorial headstones in their large quantity. The audience sees the man walking through the masses of headstones, and as he slowly walks, they are shown from a low angle shot, which shows the respect and importance of them. This low angle shot also shows us how dominant they are. This has a sympathetic effect on the audience, as they have been shown the true quantity of people that were killed in the war. Not long after, two headstones are seen close-up, and the names of two deceased soldiers and the dates of their deaths can be seen by the audience. This indicates that these two men will play a large part in the film, or are of some importance to the man visiting the memorial site. This shows the audience the sheer reality of the war, making the film both shocking and realistic.
Before scene two, there is a transition from present to past, which takes you to the war and battle scene. This transition happens when there is an extreme close up of the man’s eyes, and then it suddenly changes from mood music to sea crashing in the background. This indicates that only a soldier can know what it feels like to have been in the war and contain the emotion caused by it. It seems like the audience is getting a window into his mind, and what he is thinking of after he broke down. The transition begins when the man is crouched down with his family surrounding him and supporting, then as the close up moves in, his family are blocked out, and he is seen as very alone.
At the beginning of scene two, there is instant chaos as the audience sees the sea crashing down, against the iron hedgehogs. They stick out of the sea and are noticed straight away, telling the audience that there is going to be a war. The black colour of the iron hedgehogs indicates that danger is about to come and soon, the strange calmness of the sea and the iron hedgehogs evaporates and the cameras focus on boats, full of soldiers preparing for battle, packed like sardines in a can, charging to the shore of Omaha beach.
On board one of the boats, the audience is placed into the middle of the action, by the use of hand held cameras and watches as one of the soldier’s shaking, dirty hands opens a flask and has a drink. The shaky hand shows how terrified he is, how he is feeling, and that he must know he is going to his death. The first glimpse we get of this man is very quick, as he takes a drink from his flask and ducks his head back down. When we see him properly though, he has a calm look on his face as if he is putting a brave front on for the sake of the other soldiers he is in charge of. The other soldiers look at him as if they need reassurance, as he is in a position of authority. As people are sick around him, the audience sees how shockingly disgusting the war was and how scary it would be to be put in the middle off all of that. We and the audience have sympathy for them as they know they are going to their death, yet it’s too late to turn back, and that feeling must be horrible. Steven Spielberg wanted to create this real life, in depth account of the war, not a lot of action.
Suddenly, we hear a bomb in the near surroundings of the boat, and a look of determination comes across everyone in the boat’s faces, as some of the soldiers kiss their crucifixes, pray and cross their hearts. This shows the terror going through their minds, which is another way in which Spielberg shows the reality of the war and shocks the terror into the audience. As there is a close up of the barrier between safety and death which is seen as the boat door, it opens and immediately, we see how unmerciful and shocking the war was, as the soldiers are shot down in their masses. Straight away, we are put in the position of the enemy, in an over the shoulder shot. The colour becomes de-saturated, showing that the enemy can’t see clearly and are wrong in the eyes of the soldiers. There is then a high angle shot to show the dominance of the enemy, and then it goes back to hand held cameras. The hand held cameras make it feel like we are there, in amongst the blood and gore of the war. People go down in front of us, shot by the enemy and someone’s leg is blown off right in front of the camera. This shows the reality of the war, as you can see his blood right before your eyes.
There is a low angle shot to show the enemy in a dominant position, then, as we fall into the sea, the sound is muffled and we can hear water. The sound changes between gunshots and shouts of pain to water and bullets every few seconds, as we bob in and out of the water. This makes the scene more realistic; because it sounds exactly like you would expect it to if you were there. Right in front of the camera, somebody is shot and blood spurts out into the water. This is very gory and the situation of the Americans is made clear. The audience realises that the Americans are in a very vulnerable position and feels for them. This indicates the reality of the film, as it shows the audience that although it is an American made film, Steven Spielberg is not afraid to show the Americans losing a battle, which would obviously be the case in some parts of the war. As the camera goes back to the enemy’s view, we cannot hear much evidence of panic, only the guns being fired nearby. This shows how vulnerable the Americans are at that point, and the audience sympathises with them.
In scene three, the audience is put in the position of Captain Miller, just after a bomb has exploded nearby and the audience is almost forced into empathising with him, because they see things through his eyes, are shown how terrible a position he is in, and how terrifying it is on Omaha beach at the time. He is in a sort of trance with the war, and the way the camera switches between his point of view and a view of him gives a dramatic effect on the audience. This involves the audience in the scene, as they get the feeling that they are in Captain Miller’s position and also feel like they are looking into his eyes and seeing the terror and devastation inside him. Whilst in Miller’s position, the audience see a soldier looking directly at us for help, but can’t do anything about it, which shows the shocking reality of the war. The shaky cameras, deafened sound effect and slow motion all add to the drama of the scene. As Miller puts his helmet back on, it is as if he has put his mind back to focusing on the war, and the sound goes back to normal. This shows the audience how shocking the war must have been, because it is as if, after a while of fighting and witnessing deaths, soldiers can learn how to block it out. Also, Miller seems to believe he must focus on others rather than himself, as he is a man of authority.
The camera focuses on a soldier lying on the ground, who has been disembowelled and is shouting for his mother is shocking and has a realistic effect on the audience, as it shows them how disturbing parts of the war were. In every mise en scene, there is some sort of brutality, but this shows the audience the sheer reality of the brutality of the war. The way in which Spielberg shows you can’t rely on anyone except yourself during the war has a shocking effect on the audience, because it shows them how isolated you would feel in the middle of thousands of people in the same position as you, which is strange. An object glance of everyone running up the beach, as their fellow soldiers are shot down makes the audience feel almost guilty that they can’t do anything about it, and involves them in the film.
In conclusion, Steven Spielberg creates a shocking and realistic view of the war in ‘Saving Private Ryan.’ He does this by using realistic props and makes the battle scenes intense and gory. He creates an in depth account of the war, focusing on a certain group of soldiers, unlike typical war films which do not normally concentrate on people, but more on fighting. Spielberg shocks the reality of the amount of deaths caused by the war into the audience, by showing them the real life memorial site, and also shows the audience how emotional people can become when subjected to the trauma of war. Also, I think Steven Spielberg does not glorify war in the film, but uses realistic battle scenes to show people what war really is, leaving them to make their decision on what they think of war.