After an intensely bloody and graphic scene where the Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France on D-Day, 1944, a squad of eight American soldiers was assembled for a special mission to find and save Private James Ryan, played by Matt Damon. Mrs. Ryan, played by Amanda Boxer, was about to received notice that three of her four sons had been killed in action during war. The United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, played by Harve Presnell, made the decision to try and save her last son and return him home. The Academy award winning WWII film Saving Private Ryan by Stephen Spielberg goes beyond simple entertainment because of the movies historical accuracy, believable characters and its realistic story of courage …show more content…
The mission was to save Private James Ryan and send him home safely to his mother who just received notice that three of her sons had died in combat. The soldiers questioned the mission and thought it was a waste of valuable resources. At one point Private Reiban even said “This Ryan better be worth it.” (“Rodat, Saving Private Ryan”) This debate gets even more heated and Private Reiben threatens to quit the mission and return to the front lines. In the end the remaining squad member’s end up coming together as a unit to do more than just save one man’s life. The squad ultimately combines forces with the squad Ryan is in and defends a bridge that is vital to the forward progress of the allies. When the squad finally found Private Ryan, he is told of brothers and that he has a ticket home. To everyone’s surprise he refused to go home and abandon his squad members and their mission. So Captain Miller had to decide if their mission was over and leave or stay to help and protect Private Ryan and the bridge. After deciding to stay the men come up with a plan to defend the bridge with what little supplies they had. Sergeant Horvath, played by Tom Sizemore, said "What if by some miracle we stay and actually make it out of here? Someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole God awful, shitty mess." (“Rodat, Saving Private
It has been 42 years since the Nixon presidency was brought to an end by the Watergate scandal. All the President's Men, the movie depicting the Watergate Scandal, accurately portrays the events surrounding President Nixon and the taping of the Democratic
Saving Private Ryan portrays the experiences of the mysterious captain John Miller and his army ranger Squad. The story accurately depicts what could have happened to a comparable unit mission shown had actually existed. No Saving Private Ryan character ever existed. Furthermore, it is unlikely that Saving Private Ryan’s mission ever would have been ordered. The mission shown is improbable because United States army sole survivor policy “is applicable only in peacetime.” (Sergeant Rod Powers, ret.). Regardless the movie shows the chaos that American soldiers may very well have encountered while marching through Normandy subsequent to D-day.
In today's day and age, it's rare to see famous historical events and societal disasters not be picked apart by film directors and then transformed into a box office hit. What these films do is put a visual perspective on these events, sometimes leaving viewers speculating if whatever was depicted is in fact entirely true. I have never felt that feeling more than after I finished watching Oliver Stone’s JFK.
Robert Gould Shaw was a son of wealthy Boston abolitionists. At 23 he enlisted to fight in the war between the states. The movie opens with Robert reading one of the many letters he writes home. He is captain of 100 Union soldiers, most of whom are older than himself. He speaks of the spirit of his men and how they are enthusiastic about fighting for their country just like the men in the Revolutionary war only this time they were fighting to give blacks freedom and to live in a United country where all can speak and live freely.
The actions taken by Moore and his command group from Company Commanders to NCO’s, saved the lives of numerous American soldiers. This battle shows the leadership and unit discipline were needed to survive and be combat effective in adverse situations. Throughout the battle you see numerous Army Values and Warrior Ethos being used. “I will never leave a fallen comrade”, was the etho used the most, to reach the separated platoon. The battle also shows that not all tactical orders are effective, but as leader you must never second guess yourself.
Gallipoli is a historical film released in 1981 (directed by Peter Weir) which chronicles the lives of two young Australian men, and their journey through enlisting in the Australian Army and serving in the Battle of Gallipoli, of the First World War. The film itself represents the past through three main aspects. Firstly, the film both reflects and influences societal values and attitudes, and in this way mythologises aspects of history, specifically when considering the ‘ANZAC legend’. Simultaneously the film is able to shape societies knowledge of parts of history, looking at the futility of war in conjunction with a partial shift in blame for the immense number of casualties (26,000 Australians) of the campaign. Finally, in the films representation
Units get ambushed by North Vietnamese Army forces, who kill the commanding officers. After defeat, the Vietcong commander orders final attack using the rest of his soldiers and reserve forces. Hal Moore seeing it coming, prepares for this fight. In the last scene, Lt. Moore kept his promise, being he was the last person to step onto the helicopter.
But after experiencing ten weeks of atrocious basic training at the hands of the small-minded, vindictive Corporal Himmelstoss and the inconceivable cruelty of life on the front lines. Paul and his comrades realize that the ideals that made them enlist are merely empty clichés. They no longer believe that war is magnificent or respectable, and they live in unceasing physical terror that each day that goes may be their last. When Paul’s company receives a short reprieve after two weeks of fighting at the front lines, only eighty men of the original 150-man company return from the front. The cook , Ginger, doesn’t want to give the survivors the rations that were meant for the dead men He insists that he is only allowed to distribute single rations and that the dead soldiers’ rations will simply have to go to waste but eventually gives in.
After the United States captures the beachhead and settles down, Captain Miller and his seven soldiers begin their mission. The dilemma is Private Ryan, in the 101st airborne, was miss his drop zone away from the original plan. Command thinks he is in a nearby town swarming with German soldiers. Miller’s squad goes through towns, forests, and enemy occupied areas searching for Private Ryan. Sadly, two out of the eight men are killed during the search diminishing the morale. The captain mentally suffers from the burden of losing his men. When they finally locate Ryan, he is defending one of the most strategic towns in the beginning of the war. The town has one of the only 2 bridges across the river that will collect the Allies to the Eastern front. Private Ryan does not want to leave his men guarding the bridge because he feels that it is unfair to leave his fellow soldiers. So Captain Miller and the squad decide to make a last stand ...
Captain Viktor Tupolev, a former student of Ramius and commander of the Soviet Alfa-class attack submarine V. K. Konovalov, has been trailing what he initially believes is an Ohio-class vessel. Based on acoustical signature information, Tupolev and his political officer realize that it is Red October, and proceed to pursue and engage it. The two U.S. submarines escorting Red October are unable to fire due to rules of engagement, and a torpedo from the Alfa damages Red October. After a tense standoff, Red October rams Konovalov and sinks it. The Americans escort Red October safely into the eight-ten dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia, where Ramius and his crew are taken to a CIA safe house to begin their Americanization, and Jack Ryan returns to London.
It was 1944, and the United States had now been an active participant in the war against Nazi Germany for almost three and a half years, nearly six years for the British. During that period occurred a string of engagements fought with ferocious determination and intensity on both sides. There is however, one day which stands out in the minds of many American servicemen more often than others. June 6, 1944, D-Day, was a day in which thousands of young American boys, who poured onto the beaches of Utah and Omaha, became men faster than they would have ever imagined possible. Little did they know of the chaos and the hell which awaited them on their arrival. Over the course of a few hours, the visions of Omaha and Utah Beaches, and the death and destruction accompanied with them formed a permanent fixation in the minds of the American Invaders. The Allied invasion of Europe began on the 6th of June 1944, and the American assault on Utah and Omaha beaches on this day played a critical role in the overall success of the operation. (Astor 352)
Miller leads his mean along a wall on the beach and over took German forces to escape. with most of this troop in tact. What he didn't realise was that one of them. the man lost on the beach was Private Ryan.... ...
In “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’Brien, Orwell’s ideas are questioned and the competition between the truth and the underlying meaning of a story is discussed. O’Brien’s story depicts that the truth isn’t always a simple concept; and that not every piece of literature or story told can follow Orwell’s list of rules (Orwell 285). The story is told through an unnamed narrator as he re-encounters memories from his past as a soldier in the Vietnam War. With his recollection of past encounters, the narrator also offers us segments of didactic explanation about what a “true war story” is and the power it has on the human body (O’Brien 65). O’Brien uses fictional literature and the narration of past experiences to raise a question; to what extent should the lack of precision, under all circumstances, be allowed? In reality, no story is ever really truthful, and even if it is, we have no proof of it. The reader never feels secure in what they are being told. The reliability of the source, the author, and the narrator are always being questioned, but the importance of a story isn’t about the truth or the accuracy in which it is told, but about the “sunlight” it carries (O’Brien 81).
The film Tomorrow When the War Began is a film based on the novel of the same title. John Marsden’s Tomorrow When the War Began is the story of seven teenagers who return from a camping trip to find their home town has been invaded. The producer of the film has excluded several settings from the book and also changed parts of the plot and the character’s characteristics. These differences occur to show the character’s development, to limit the duration of the film and to keep the audience engaged.
Although the book did an incredible job in explaining every detail and story that happened throughout the day and preceding night, the movie did a much better job in helping the viewer visualize the entire ordeal. Without the film there would be no real way to understand how massive and tragic the invasion was, unless you were there. Which is one reason why both the book and the movie are both so accurate. Because Ryan had based everything in his book on his own personal accounts and hundreds of veteran accounts. The writers, directors, and producer successfully realized their goal of a truly exact D-day film, and they did it without a consistent story or gore. While the stories in the movie were weak and were never truly completed, the movie and book still left the viewer satisfied with what they had watched or read. Without Ryan’s book, I doubt that there would be a D-day movie out that accomplished the same goal of realism that Zanuck’s The Longest Day had.