Saving Private Ryan directed by Steven Spielberg

This shocking and realistic film re-creates the horrific events that took place during the Normandy landings. In the opening scenes of this down to earth movie, the director illustrates an emotional, sad, shocking and horrendous image by starting the movie with a bang of overwhelming and harrowing scenes which evokes all the horror and terror of the Normandy invasion. In addition, He also uses a faded and metallic America flag which represent that the film is set in past and which also suggests that the theme is about war.Furthermore, the camera zooms into James Ryan's face which implies that he is depressed and feels sorrow for his fellow soldiers that lost their lives in the battle. In brief, the big white crosses in the graveyard emphasises that the director is being more realistic about huge loss of lives in war which makes the audience feel distressed and pitiful for soldiers that lost their lives for their countries.

However, the movie is in contrast with older war films for example the 'dam buster' because in Saving Private Ryan, it started off with a sad and emotional tone whereas in old-fashioned war movie the tone is appealing and optimistic which make war seem interesting and adventurous for young people to recruit at the time but the directors at that time are withholding the true meaning of war which is something gruesome and appalling because a lot of young people died in world war one and two.In addition, the director of Saving Private Ryan uses a lot of techniques and advanced technologies such as handheld camera, under water camera and a selection of colours which are representative of the tragedy war. When the colour becomes darker, the mood changes to a more serious dangerous scenario.This technique called pathetic fallacy allows the movie to show very emotional and graphical scene for example it shows where a man's foot was blown off his body and another man's stomach ripped from his belly and this made the movie so realistic and shocking to the extent that some ex- soldiers of the ww2 felt nauseous the work of the director and they admitted that the movie really illustrates what went on during the battle of Normandy. Some of them couldn't finish watching the movie because it reminded them about the chaos and poignant feelings of the appalling war.The handheld camera shots and underwater camera made the movie so graphical which makes it stand out from older war movies they tend to make it more realistic and shocking.

. This is totally different with Saving Private Ryan because nowadays technology has advanced and this meant that war movies made in the present days are more outrageous and practical as it was in the real actual war. To the past illustrated by the facial expression of James Ryan's emphasising his emotional distress which can make the audience feel inclusive as though they are involved somehow in what has happened.The film begins in the present day which shows James Ryan an ex - soldier on his way to visit the grave yard of his late fellow soldiers who lost their lives in ww2 at Normandy, France. He was accompanied by his family members but as the camera zoomed to his eyes which illustrate his despair and sorrow suddenly he started walking faster as he got closer to the graveyard which meant that he is mournful and emotionally attached to his fellow comrades, In addition, as he was surrounded by the huge tonnes of sparkly white crosses.The camera closely zoomed straight to his face then into his blue eyes which represent the sea where the battle begins veins were popping up his fore-head and this emphasises to the audience that war is extremely stressful and painful which has physical and mental effects and some nasty memories which will live with them till the end of your life.

Furthermore, the transition from the present to the past change the whole mood completely because the sound suddenly change from mournful to chaotic and the colour become more metallic to chaotic and the colour becomes more metallic and de-saturated which coordinates with the soldiers uniform, artillery and helmets. Mr Spielberg used this fantastic special effect because he wanted the audience to have an insight view of what war is like miserable and lonely.As the soldiers approach the battle scene, you can sense that a lot of them were nervous and frightened to death because of the unusual behaviour and their mood which makes the movie shocking and realistic, for example some soldiers were vomiting and some were trembling, and mumbling under their breath, this adds to the realism of the film because unlike other old war movies, that illustrate war movie as adventure and quest which make it very appealing and optimistic for people to recruit, this film depict the harsh trend of the war.When the soldiers landed the beach, they were being gunned down by the Germans before they got off the boats, the underwater camera illustrate a graphical image of the bullet whizzing through beneath the sea and hitting the soldiers as they got off the boat and this adds to the special effects which makes the movie more shocking and realistic. Moreover, the director emphasise a crucial part of the film by showing a scene where the American soldiers are talking while at the same time, the German machine gun are shooting at them while they were trying to come up with a fundamental solution to stop the Germans wiping them out.The sound of the machine gun is in loud and the zipping of bullets whizzing through the air and the sea water bubbling add to the domino effects and in contrast with the sound on land, de-saturated and metallic colour.

However, captain miller is confused and strained when he is deafened by the sound of a grenade, he's surrounded by dead bodies and his mind is full of horrors. The camera zoomed on his face in order to emphasise his emotions and fears and this adds to the realism because it shows the real side of war.The mood quickly changes from chaotic and atrocious to brave and courageous as captain miller begins to instruct his soldiers while the German machine gun is still firing and this would make the audience to feel involved, we see this through the scene when the soldiers are planning their tactics on the enemy and at the same time the opposition machine gun is continuing, the voice of the soldiers competing with each other is in contrast with the sound of the machine gun_ which really makes the audience understand what it felt like to be in war.In addition, the hand held camera was used to zoom on the soldiers' face and this shows their sorrows despair and their eager for revenge. Furthermore, the camera technique was also used to exemplify the soldiers breathing faster and this suggests that they are nervous and frightened due to the huge lost of lives they have seen and this would clench the audience attention and make them guess what is going to happen next because the mood change from depressed and demoralized to courageous and bold, the sound also change from distressing to heartening.

Moreover, there is a scene when the situation has an emotional impact on the audience because they are poignantly drawn into the circumstance. This panorama illustrates the character of the doctor 'Giovanni Rebessi' sacrificing his life in order to save a crying and dying soldier. The battle sequence ends with the American soldiers emerging as victorious but also devastated and terribly upset by the horrific lost of their comrades.At last, some of the German soldiers capitulated but due the emotional, bloody and gloomy circumstances that they've gone through, some of them decided not to hold them captives but to shoot them instead. The director illustrates this important point because normally in some other old war movie, if the enemy gives up and surrender, they would be taken prisoners but in this case Mr Spielberg was more open and realistic by emphasising the authentic realism of war which can psychologically and mentally affect people's mind and make them pitiless and stone-hearted due their experience of war.

The over-head view of the camera and the change of sound from high pitch to low pitch emphasising that the soldiers felt sorrowful and heartbreaking as they make their way back to the sea bed' some of them found their friends helplessly lying on the beach dead with some part of their bodies missing, this gloomy scene would make the audience feel as if they are the one experiencing the traumatizing situation. There is a contrast between the sound at the beginning and at the end, the sound was horrific and depressing at start which was change at the end to bravery and victorious.This would make the audience appreciate and respect the soldiers that put their lives in danger of serving their country. In conclusion, the opening scene of this 'adrenaline rush' film gives the audience a clue of what the movie is going to be all about because the sound at the start was emotional, mournful and miserable, the faded flag and the metallic colours suggests that the movie is going to be about war because it coordinate with the soldiers uniform and equipments.Furthermore, the zooming of camera on Captain Miller's face shows his sorrow and dismay and this implies that he still has the memory of the d-day.

Moreover, the transition from the present to the past illustrate to the audience that he still remember the bloody day as if it was yesterday due to the horrific scenes and huge lost of lives he encountered. In addition, the opening scene was also shocking and realistic because as the soldiers were set off on the sea, the overhead camera was use to illustrate that the sky is quite bleak and which indicates that revulsion is about to take place.It as well, demonstrates some of the soldiers coughing and vomiting which represent how nervous and frightened were, knowing clearly this makes the audience feel upset as it could have been someone related to them. Moreover, the graphics in the movie were the icing on the cake because it makes the movie so rational and awful totally contradicting older war movie such as the 'Dam Buster', where the scenes are very appealing and optimistic for adolescents to recruit because they thought of the war as an adventure and excitement.Whereas in SPR, the scenario is more straightforward and genuine because it accentuate the actual events that take place in war for example, there's a scene that shows the bullets whizzing underneath the sea, taking an American soldier down, and a man's stomach being blown out, this is another prospective that has not been shown in other war movie in this manner and this adds up to the realism of the film. However, I think that the movie is the best war movie ever to be made because it exemplify the exact implication of war which the audience do not get to see in other war movie.

Although the graphics can sometimes be too gruesome and disturbing for audience but it gives us the insight view of war for instance, people being lit on fire and the focusing on the sound of bullet piercing through a soldier's chest and the sound of the soldiers struggling to get out their webbing and a shower of blood etc, all this effects create a chaotic and horrible imagery in our mind and as well as make the audience feel intense and hook on.Notably, this movie is superb and exhilarating because it encourages people to honour and appreciate the people who were involved in the war and remember them for their bravery and astonishing enthusiasm because without them, we wouldn't have been here.Furthermore, the advanced in technology also plays important role in making the movie realistic and shocking, for example the equipment such as hand-held camera, overhead camera and underwater camera creates a special effects which is exceptional, incomparable and electrifying and this unique achievement made it possible for the audience to feel included in the spectacular scene and graph imageries, which in fact illustrated the reality of war.Once again, Mr Spielberg created a masterpiece which made him one of the best directors in the world. The movie is superb and I really enjoyed watching it because it taught me a lot of things which I didn't know about war before and I can also picture how life was for the soldiers during the world war two.