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Saving Private Ryan
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by
opǝɹɟ1ɐ
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Sep 27, 2009 09:30PM
Saving Private Ryan was really good. Maybe a little too acurate. What do YOU think???
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i am a huge fan of saving private ryan, and i think the movie illustrates to the audience of how WW2 really was, and yes too accurate is needed make a great drama, i mean most of the movies other than saving private ryan are accurate but not too accurate, accuracy is the key to a sucessful movie
Alfredo, in what way to do you feel SPR was "too accurate"?Gene, why do you think that "accuracy" is so important? Are directors/filmmakers ever smart to use creative license?
Though there are elements of the film that I think are magnificent, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN suffers from the "Spielberg Syndrome" where everything must have a happy ending...or some inane justification for sacrifice. When Tom Hanks mutters the lines "Earn this" I rolled my eyes: what a way to ruin a truly emotional moment. The scenes that bookend the film are too melodramatic for me, and the match-cut to Tom Hank's eyes is confusing. My favorite part of the film is the soldiers march from Omaha Beach through the rain, and the raindrops and thunder begin to morph into staccato maching-gun fire and artillery. He shoots close-up (very Malick-esque) on the leaves and puddles as muddy boots stomp nature into oblivion.
I saw this in theatres opening weekend and after the film I was in the bathroom as a group of WWII vets (in full uniform) were washing their hands. I couldn't help but listen to the conversation as they spoke about the realism and lack thereof: one gentleman said that the plumes of smoke from the german 88s were much more black in real life and another said he remebered hiding in a ditch as a Tiger tank rolled by, and the ominous bass really captured the groundshaking and bonerattling rumble of this steel beast.
There are many WWII films I would recommend such as Klimov's COME AND SEE or Wellman's BATTLEGROUND and THE STORY OF GI JOE.
I remember thinking that the film begins by showing me that war is hell on earth, and ends by showing me that war is a handy guilt trip to spring on people.
Great insight Tom! Again, Spielberg confounds me with moments of intense cinematic expertise but then loses focus when he begins to tell a story.
i am just thinking that the more accurate a movie is the better it will be in terms of popularity, people want to experience how the war was really like, its difficult to imagine it in a book, but this movie gives insight on how it was like during that war
Agree, the battle scenes really have an impact but when he tells a story the film begins to fall apart. My father fought four years in Korea and faced Chinese bayonette charges, and he said that the .50 caliber machine guns ripping into thousands of men sounded like a lawn-mower chewing up branches and rocks (time a thousand). And Spielberg captured this sound on Omaha Beach which sent a chill down my spine.
i agree with alex: stalingrad, come and see, ivan's childhood, das boot....there are a lot of films that outshine this ww2 film on numerous levels.
I watched IVAN'S CHILDHOOD last night. Tremendous.
Any love for any of Tarkovsky's other films?
oh come on, tom...have i really not raved about him enough around here?;)
i love all of the films he made in russia. i'm not as keen on nostalghia and the sacrifice. but all the other stuff just makes me swoon. tarkovsky is one of those great artists i would have loved to have met. i have a few million questions for him.
Ha, asked the same question over in the Movies We've Just Watched thread.
LOL, Phillip, I'm kind of in a WIZARD OF OZ haze here.Yeah, dig me some Tarkovsky. He was definitely an acquired taste, it took a few films to really get it, but a teacher I respected was a big proponent and it was that lucky period in the 80s where NYC repertory cinemas actually showed Tarkovsky fairly frequently. I felt some glimmers when I finally saw STALKER, that wonderful indoor rainstorm toward the end just knocked me out.
I wish Criterion would do for ANDREI RUBLEV what they did for SOLARIS.
I've never seen IVAN'S CHILDHOOD. I don't have access to Netflix at work: did Criterion release this? If so, it's going im my queue tonight:)
Yes, Alex, it is a Criterion DVD, and well worth checking out.
tom, criterion released the first fully restored print (since the russian censors cut nearly half the original print) of andrei rublev some time ago. it is presented in its entirety, nearly four hours long...earlier editions on VHS ranged from 110 minutes to 2.5+ hours.
Yes, Philip I saw that restored version of RUBLEV when it was released in theatres in the 80s, I had the Criterion laserdisc and got the DVD as soon as it came out. They desperately need to remaster that DVD, it isn't mastered for widescreen TVs. A shame, RUBLEV is a movie like no other.
