Saving Private Ryan
REVIEW
“No one under the age of 17 allowed with out the company of an adult,” is what the sign read positioned right in front of the theater door the first time I saw Saving Private Ryan. It was 1998 and I was 15 years old and by this point in my life I was professional at sneaking into movies I was restricted from seeing. Most of the time it was easy, I would just buy a ticket to a PG-13 rated movie and just walk right into the theater when the attendants weren’t paying attention. This was not the case for Saving Private Ryan. For this movie there was an attendant stationed right in front of the door checking tickets to make sure all rules were being upheld. Why was this movie so much different then all the other R-rated films I had seen? Why was this one demanding such a high level of security? My dad had raised me on war films, how was this one going to be any different?
When I had my mind set on seeing a movie, there was no stopping me. My young mind craved good stories and no regulations were going to keep me from seeing the new Spielberg film. I found a 21 year old kid in the lobby and I purchased his and his girlfriends ticket and they escorted me into the theater. If anything the extra security only made the experience that much more exciting and the movie that much more intriguing. Little did I know that the movie I was about to watch would have an effect on me the way no other film has….even to this day.
To a kid my age war was always glamorized or romanticized. Heroes were born out of war. The good guys fought the bad guys and always came out victorious. Guys a little older than me were signing up to serve their country just waiting for a chance to carry a gun and fight to protect freedom and the American way. What I saw in the first half hour of “Saving Private Ryan” was not glamorous. It was survival.
This was the first film I had ever seen that showed the honest brutality and chaos of battle. Just being on that beach on D-Day was bravery and surviving was a miracle. Strong, brave boys wiped out by chance. There is no preparing for what they were walking into. There is no amount of training that could help them survive. Spielberg showed war for exactly what it was; the chaos of young men giving their lives to gain control of a beach with the hope of a greater victory.
After that opening scene I was not the same person I was before I went into that movie. It changed me. It had a huge impact on me. I had thoughts that needed to be shared with friends. Other kids my age needed to see what I had just seen. I felt it in my gut. It was uneasy feeling to accept something so brutally unflinching in its honesty. That is the power of great filmmaking. I loved it.
There are few movies that I have left the theater with the thought in my head “I wish I could see that movie again for the first time.” That, to me, is the sign of true greatness: walking out of the theater and knowing right away that the person I was before the film and the person I am after the film are two different people. It does not happen often, maybe only a few times in life. A great piece of art can change your perception of reality, answer a question about love, family, friendship or give words to thoughts you couldn’t express. That is why this movie is in my top three All Time Favorite Films because it was the first film that showed me the power of great filmmaking.
