Images From Saving Private Ryan

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The movie Saving Private Ryan  was released in 1998, and while I heard it was a good movie, I didn’t watch it until just recently. The reviews talked about how realistic it was, and being a little squeamish, I avoided it. After hearing that the U.S. Department of Defence warned that some combat veterans could find the movie disturbing, I found another excuse not to watch.

In fact, I haven’t even watched the whole movie myself. My wife was watching it in the next room, and I caught parts of it when I walked through the room.

Several scenes I caught from the movie have been haunting me.

* * * Spoiler Warning * * *

If you have not seen the movie already, you may want to watch it before reading this article.

Medics on the beach

Early in the movie, three medics are on the beach desperately working on a badly wounded man. Meanwhile the war goes on around them. Suddenly there is a metallic clanging sound and a hole appears in the helmet of the man the medics were trying to save. The medics realise that he is dead now and beyond their help. They rapidly move to cover. As they do, they complain how unfair it was, that they could have saved the man and were angry with the Germans for not giving them the chance.

This scene gave me more insight into how combat changes someone than I ever got from any other war movie. The medics feel that killing their patient was “unfair”, showing that they are not used to the reality of war. Their anger and frustration reflects their peacetime mindset, where people treat other people fairly. I could identify with these people, who, like me, didn’t want to let go of the feelings and attitudes of peacetime.

Men crawling to safety

Much later in the movie, during the battle for the town, a German machine gun shoots at several paratroopers attacking a German tank. The bullets cut the men into pieces. A short time later, we see a couple of these men dragging and crawling along the ground trying to escape.

This image of someone dragging themselves along the ground haunted me long before I saw this movie. I used the image in my own film If I Knew . . . . For that reason, I found this scene very disturbing.

I wondered why they were trying to escape. Wouldn’t they be better off to stay where they were? Surely after the battle was over, they would get medical attention. It is easy, in the safety of your living room to think through the options they had. In combat though, you don’t have time to think; you need to act. I find it chilling to think what it would be like to be in their place.

Mrs. Ryan on the steps

Mrs. Ryan is in her kitchen when she sees the military car driving toward her home. She walks slowly outside to meet it. As it stops and she sees the minister get out of the car, she collapses on her front steps as she sees her worst fears confirmed.

What did she fear that caused her to collapse? It was that one of her four sons was dead. What we know, that she hasn’t learned yet, was that three of her sons are dead. We know that despite all the sadness she is feeling now, in a few seconds it will be far worse for her. This is only suggested by the scene, but is all the more effective for that.

Few of us have had a child die, but I have heard that it is the worst thing that can ever happen to a parent. Presenting her realization in the way it is, forces us to put ourselves in her place and make us more closely identify with her pain. Making the scene more explicit, or excluding it altogether, would lessen the impact.

A scene that is implied

After the film was over, I could not help but imaging a scene where Mrs. Ryan is again in her kitchen when she sees another car driving toward her home. She again walks to the front steps. Two thoughts would struggle inside her: the expectation that this is her remaining son returning safely home and the fear that something has gone wrong and it is the minister again. I can imagine the sense of bittersweet joy she will feel as the door opens and her son steps out.