The first scene of “Saving Private Ryan” is on Omaha Beach where we, the Americans, are point blank attacking Germany who had control of the Omaha Beach which was the beach we were attacking. This first scene of the movie really captures the courage and sacrifice that these men made for our freedom. As we entered the beach, which by the way was very difficult considering that the German put obstacles there so we could not dock, we were in plain sight. We had nothing to hide behind, nothing to block us from the bullets and bombs, and we also had no American aircrafts because the weather conditions were so foggy and rainy that it was almost impossible. We were by far the underdogs and really should not have won that battle like we did. This day known as D-Day goes down in history as one of the biggest battles of all time.
But, this film does not portray the whole time about D-Day. After surviving this battle the men received orders. Captain Miller and some other men were ordered to save Private Ryan. They were ordered to search anywhere and everywhere to find this one man. They argued why this one man was so important? Why would they leave and risk their lives for this one man, whom they know nothing about, rather than fight the Nazi’s and try and take down Germany. The reason for this madness was because of congress’ orders. Private Ryan had two other brothers, both of them had died and the mother had been notified. Pretty much, the government said enough is enough we cannot take away another child from this mother, so they wanted to send out a group of men to find the last remaining brother and return him home to his family. In the end, they were forced to obey orders and look all over (France is where they started) to find this Private Ryan.
Not knowing anything about this guy, where he was, what he looked like, what division he was with or even if he was alive or dead these guys were on a mission. They traveled from camp to camp searching through the dog tags of the men who had died, yelling out his name, and trusting word of mouth from other military men. When it was evident that he was not at that specific camp they would move on. But, the difficulty level was even harder than that. As they advanced on their journey they ran into German Nazi’s everywhere. They fought battles along the way and even lost men from their little group until they finally reached Private Ryan.
When Captain Miller and the few remaining guys found him, Ryan refused to leave his men. Ryan and his men were guarding a bridge and ready to fight a battle with the Nazi’s and Ryan said that these men were his only brothers left and he refused to leave them. Private Ryan and Captain Miller negotiated and said that when this battle was over they would take him back. Ryan and agreed but during the battle Captain Miller was shot and died. Once the American reinforcements came in and cleared out the Germans, Private Ryan was saved. He still didn’t understand why those men had to lose their lives just so his could be saved.
Within the storyline of this film, you see the endeavors and sacrifices of ALL the soldiers of the world. They fought for their country and its rights, but also fought for their family. They fought for their family that was back home and for the family (people) standing around them as they went through the war. The sacrifices of these men, and today’s men, are the absolute most key reason as to why we have the freedom that we do. This may have been a WWII movie, but the sacrifices behind it are still true to this day.
Comments
Excellent job Taylor!