Saving Private Ryan Reflection
Saving Private Ryan looks into a more personal aspect of WW2, more specifically in the eyes of the soldiers. WW2 was usually considered a traumatic and devastating event, but it is hard to measure exactly how it felt like, since we weren’t there ourselves on the battleground. It shows how it was psychologically and physically breaking them into pieces, yet were forced to go through these for the sake of one man named Ryan. The story is debatable however due to the fact that the rescue mission of Ryan is considered fiction, some facts may still be inconsistent. Despite this inconsistency, it is not the main point of the movie. The movie wanted to show the struggle of these men, who would risk their entire platoon just to save one life.
The account of the rescue mission of Saving Private Ryan helps audiences empathize for the soldiers who sacrifice their lives for the safety of the country. Clearly, the main focus of the film was not on the historical facts or the exact events that happened on D-Day, however the film was based on that premise. The movie wanted to show true human spirit and love for one’s brother, particularly shown in the courage and strength of Captain John Miller. The importance of not focusing on the facts of a historical movie is that the viewers get to appreciate other aspects of war that are not really seen. A traditional historical movie would last for almost three hours and would focus on the plot, the exact words used by the people, and the realism of the warfare and special effects. However, here we see how the soldiers view war which makes the viewers empathize for them.
The trouble with historians using Saving Private Ryan as a basis of historical fact would its inaccuracies starting with the plot. How can historians accept a movie where the event was fiction and made up in the first place? Since historians remain objective towards the facts and true events of history, then they simply can not accept movies of historical fiction as a true historical movie. In short, it is not based on true events, but could simply be inspired by true events.
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