Story of Film #1: Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Morality and Aesthetics

“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

SPOILERS

It maybe seems bizarre to start a series on film's history on a movie made at the end of the 20th Century for a historical event the advent of cinema pre-dates. But then again it is a Steven Spielberg movie, a man whom for many people is the first - and maybe only - name you think of when it comes to a director. And Saving Private Ryan is Spielberg, for all the many goods, and for all the little ills. It is a phenomenal display of craft with an array of great performances, but so committed to singular ideals in individuals scenes that it creates both stunning moments of cinema, and sometimes the effect of moral whiplash.

Watching these battle scenes after many a year, the striking thing that is strange to consider now is how composed the movie is. For its reputation as the movie that birthed the modern day use of the "shaky-cam" to signify gritty action, the main thing that distinguishes Saving Private Ryan from the rest is how the visceral nature of erratic camera movement is juxtaposed with the preciseness of the frame when that camera eventually makes its mark.¹ The audience is never confused as to the location or the action involved, whether that being a medic who is performing operations whilst their patients are still being shot at,² to calling a higher chain of commands for assistance, to general moments of tactics and planning before a great shoot-off. Like our protagonists in Ryan we understand where we are and why and what we are doing there, we just wish that we weren't.

And that questioning of intention and command, along with the bonds between individuals in war, are probably the central themes of Saving Private Ryan. Our main characters talk only occasionally about the mission being to “win the war”, but aside from the Omaha Sequence the main mission and our character’s arcs come from saving or protecting an individual. The movie begins and ends with the American flag, but it is faded, grey, see-through, and as the movie end it looks like it is about to descend. No character talks about having a sense of patriotism, and the only character who sings the National Anthem is a German solider that gets it wrong.

A key piece of dialogue about this comes from Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), whom gives an emotional speech about his technique to falling asleep:

When my mother was an intern, she used to work late through the night... sleep through the day. So the only time we'd ever get to talk about anything is when she'd get home. So what I... I used to do, I used to lie in my bed and try to stay awake as long as I could, but it never worked 'cause... 'cause the harder I'd try, the faster I'd fall asleep… Only thing is, sometimes she'd come home early, and I'd pretend to be asleep…She'd stand in the doorway looking at me... and I'd just keep my eyes shut. And I knew she just wanted to find out about my day - that she came home early... just to talk to me. And I still wouldn't move... I'd still pretend to just be asleep. I don't know why I did that.

Here we see someone who is so committed to a routine that they are unable to connect to someone they are close to. While this speech is also an example of the writings more disappointingly obvious screenplay mechanics,³ it is also a great example of a man facing their death, showing they have been trapped in a single way of thinking and doomed to an their inevitable demise (Which Spielberg shows by trapping Wade’s head through another wooden “frame”).

In Ryan the American soldiers’ thoughts as the movie progresses are not about vague notions of the country, but about treating the individual man with the same thought and care as you would treat a member of family.⁴ And we see that connection play to its almost inevitable and horrific conclusion. In Cpt. Miller’s (Tom Hanks) first case of shock, the silence rings over the deaths of nameless soldiers and ends with a speaking face. In Miller’s final shock, we see a similar silent montage, full of people we have followed and grown to care for, and the final close-up of a face is that of a dead friend.

These individual moments epitomise that old mantra “war is hell”, and from American’s shooting soldiers that are attempting to surrender, to others (particularly Reiben, played by Edward Burns) questioning orders that result in guns being pointed at, this is the closest Spielberg comes to a sense moral ambiguity. But to paraphrase FilmCritHulk, where a director like Kubrick has 100 different ideas going on in a scene or shot, Spielberg has one idea that he does exceedingly well at. And because of Spielberg’s conviction to the individual moment, the sense of moral greyness is not consistent throughout the enitre picture.

A great example of this moral confusion caused by filmmaking choices involves two moments with the German solider (Joerg Stadler), credited as “Steamboat Willie”, both which take place in the final battle sequence. The first is the stabbing of Mellish (Adam Goldberg). The close up profile angles of him as he slowly plunges a knife into Mellish’s, as Willie smiles whilst repeatingly hushing him, plays itself as director would portraying the typical villain in a movie. However, when Willie shoots at Captain Miller - the main character, and almost inarguably the most likeable - Spielberg makes the decision to film the fatal shot exclusively from Willie’s point of view, in the same over the solider manner we have seen the American soldiers shoot German’s from on countless occasions. It’s both a great example of the depersonalisation and the subjective value of death when it comes to war. It is an effect that is both distancing, non-judgemental and powerful. It is a shame that it had to proceed a scene that’s power had to come from such a traditional sense of evil.

And despite this moral ambiguity, Spielberg feels the need to where the clothes of patriotism and populism. The flag opening and closing the picture is seen as an example of this (though I would disagree that it actually is), but the most notable example, to many at least, is the framing device of Old Ryan,⁵ who stands at the grave of the dead Cpt. Miller to show how much he has “earned this” before giving the grave a salute. Yet despite its overly sentimental nature, it is a great summation of the movies central themes; how much we owe to other people, whether that be the individual, or the collective.

Saving Private Ryan is a movie that sometimes too committed to its emotion and populism to give a true sense of moral ambiguity, but is still a masterful piece of cinema by both Spielberg and his cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (even if occasionally the lighting of the scene is so bright it makes you want to cover your eyes) that overcomes the obviousness and confusion of some of the script beats. On top of all that is a great cast, anchored by another amazing performance from Tom Hanks, whom in an era of anti-heroes remind us that the desire to do well can be just as complex and intriguing as the desire to do bad. And even if don’t get time to engage sympathy for all of them, through their relationship with Miller we a true sense of protection and brotherhood.⁶

Next: We take a look at the first part of Krzysztof Kieślowski's three movie opus: Three Colours: Blue.

Notes

¹ The only time I found myself distracted by the moving camera was the shot in which the company first meet Private Ryan after blowing up an enemy tank. The idea of image becoming clearer does fit greatly into what is in the scene, but I thought the shake in that moment to somewhat out of place, and the wrong kind of noticeable.

² Despite Spielberg’s saccharine reputation, this beginning action sequence has two instances of the blackest comedy I’ve seen in a mainstream war film. One is the instance of Wade’s reaction to man who he is treating being shot, the other being the solider who has survived a headshot taking his helmet off in a moment of shock, only to be shot again. And yet both these moments do not detract from the realism and brutality of the scene.

³ What person doesn't watch this scene now and think to themselves “Yep, definitely going to die”?

⁴ A telling piece of dialogue as Miller purposefully draws fire to a fellow solider:

Sergeant Horvath: Captain, if your mother saw you do that, she'd be very upset. 

Captain Miller: I thought you were my mother.

⁵ Whom we are led to believe is Miller at the beginning, consider there is a very conscious zoom in to both of their eyes, as though the movie was Miller’s flashback.

⁶

Medic Wade: Corporal, what's your book about?

Cpl. Upham: It's supposed to be about the bonds of brotherhood developed between soldiers during war.

Pvt. Caparzo: Brotherhood? What do you know about brotherhood?