The Opening Battle Sequence of Saving Private Ryan as Shocking and Realistic

The Opening Battle Sequence of Saving Private Ryan as Shocking and Realistic

'The last thing I wanted to do in this picture was use the war simply

as a springboard for action-adventure. I was looking for realism all

the time'.

Steven Spielberg.

Saving Private Ryan, by Steven Spielberg is said to break the

traditional conventions of the war film genre. The film tries to

include the audience in the chaos of battle by using handheld cameras.

The handheld cameras show the emotions of the soldiers and were also

used to make the audience feel as though they are involved in the

battle. Steven Spielberg purposely does this because he wants the film

to be as realistic as possible. During the opening battle, sequences

that lasts for twenty-four minutes, the camera gets splattered with

blood. This helps immensely to create the idea of the audience seeing

action through the eyes of a soldier. Those scenes helped to win the

film several Academy Awards, including Best Director for Steven

Spielberg, who has been directing films since 1975. The film also uses

de-saturated colour during the battle scenes. The sky is dull, the sea

is rough and all the soldiers look very sombre. It isn't surprising

that they felt this way and Tom Hanks, a leading actor in the film,

did well to create this emotion. The only bright colour used is that

of the blood that you see of the American soldiers who had been shot.

These factors make Saving Private Ryan a lot more realistic than war

films before it, which is what Spielberg was aiming to do.

The first item you see of Saving Private Ryan is the American Flag.

This demonstrates to the audience that the film is made from an

Americans point of view. Patriotic music is also played here. The

first real movement we see in the film is of the old man and his

family in the Normandy War Memorial Grounds. Here, a long camera shot

is used to show the family but when the old man is looking for a