Oppenheimer

 SPOILER ALERT. The plot will be discussed.

Oppenheimer (2023), winner of the Best Picture Oscar, is based on the book entitled America Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the nuclear physicist who helped create the atomic bomb in 1945. In mythology, Prometheus defied the gods and gave fire to humanity. For his transgression he was tortured by having a giant bird chew at his liver while he was in chains. It is a rich metaphor for daring to defy the order of things by reaching above the human realm. (A similar theme is in the tale of Icarus and Daedalus). Oppenheimer harnessed the basic power of existence and for that he suffered psychological punishment through guilt and the persecution of the political system when he advised against developing and using the weapons he helped to create.

The first image in the film is water rippling on the ground in the rain. That shot combines with depictions of atomic particles and an explosion due to atomic fission as Oppenheimer stares with a frightened look at the metaphorical consequences of his work. The result is the suggestion that there can be an escalating chain reaction once humans tamper with the building blocks of the universe. The water image repeats in the film as a reminder of consequences.

The film jumps to when Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy, in his Oscar-winning role) undergoes scrutiny for his past political associations with communism. This great scientist receives praise for his achievements for America and then, as if needing a scapegoat for the destruction the United States unleashed, his country blames him for being unpatriotic. (Murphy’s gaunt appearance – he lost weight for the role – and his voice trying to stay steady, along with subtle facial changes transform the actor, and he is totally convincing in this performance).

The film then focuses on Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr, receiving the Best Supporting Oscar for this role. He is great at presenting surface calm with anger simmering below). Strauss was a leader on the Atomic Energy Commission. He is talking with an aide in connection with his nomination for a post with the Eisenhower Administration. He appears reluctant to be associated with the Congressional investigation into Oppenheimer. We get an immediate insight into Strauss’s personality when he corrects the aide by stating he should be addressed as “Admiral.” As we see he is negatively impacted by what he considers slights.

As he testifies before a committee, Oppenheimer states that when he was studying in England, he was troubled by images of a hidden universe, possibly a precognition of the awe and danger of the nuclear world. Christopher Nolan (Winner of the Best Director Oscar for this work) depicts shifting time periods and is adept at cutting to Oppenheimer’s viewpoint here, with visions of the atomic world, which he depicts in color. He said it was to stress the scientist’s point of view, which was subjective and the camera is closer to Oppenheimer, making the face a landscape, according to the cinematographer. The screenplay was in the first person, a very unusual technique, to stress Oppenheimer’s take on things. Strauss’s scenes are in black and white, supposedly an objective viewpoint, at least as Strauss sees the facts, and the camera shoots farther away to suggest objectivity. Nolan said, despite the back and forth shifting of time periods, structured it first as an origin story, then a kind of suspense film in making the bomb, and then a trial sequence. Nolan combines old school with new school technology. He does not prefer CGI, and still uses film, but IMAX has visual resolution superior to digital photography. This film is the first to do black-and-white in IMAX.

Back in time, Kenneth Branagh plays famous scientist Neils Bohr, who advises Oppenheimer to leave Cambridge since Oppenheimer is not great at lab work and should delve only into theory. Bohr says that to truly understand the science he must not only read the music he must “hear the music.” Oppenheimer says he can. The musical score in the film echoes his ecstatic insights and the deeper tones of those revelations.

Oppenheimer poisoned an apple for his demeaning professor but stops Bohr from eating it. The apple has Biblical references, showing that knowledge kills innocence and can lead to a fall from grace. It also shows the darkness inside of Oppenheimer that here manifests in a personal manner and later in a global one.

He throws glasses into the corner of his room as if the broken, dangerous shards mimic what happens when matter is fractured. He stares at a cubist painting which depicts various sides of reality in the same viewing, which is what Oppenheimer sees as he considers the totality of existence.

Back at the confirmation hearing, Strauss notes he first met Oppenheimer for a position at Princeton University. He corrects Oppenheimer by saying his name is pronounced “Straws,” another example of Strauss’s wish for proper recognition. He says that no matter the pronunciation, “they know I’m Jewish,” which may accurately stress a reason for his insecurity. (Oppenheimer was also Jewish, although his parents moved away from the religion toward a more secular belief system). Strauss asks why Oppenheimer didn’t recruit Albert Einstein (Tom Conti), who also is at Princeton, for the Manhattan Project which initiated the research to develop the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer says that Einstein was the best scientist of “his time” for his theory of relativity published many years prior. Oppenheimer seems superior in his manner here. When he asks Strauss if he was a physicist the latter says he was a “self-made man,” implying the scientists had an unfair advantage in life. He says he was a shoe salesman. Oppenheimer says the successful Strauss was once a “lowly shoe salesman.” Strauss takes offense at the adjective and corrects by saying, “just a shoe salesman.” Oppenheimer has an unheard conversation at this point with Einstein near a pond on the campus. Afterwards Einstein walks past Strauss as if oblivious of the man being there. Strauss later says to the Congressional Committee that Oppenheimer must have said something which caused Einstein to “sour” his feelings toward Strauss. Also, the fact that Oppenheimer is not jumping at the position offered at Princeton irritates Strauss. All these details about what Straus perceives as slights show how he will eventually undermine Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer met Isidor Rabi (David Krumholz) in Holland. Rabi is amazed at Oppenheimer’s brilliance because he learned Dutch sufficiently in six weeks to give a lecture in the language. (He also knows German and Sanskrit). They are both New York Jews but are very different. Oppenheimer seems aloof and formal, whereas Rabi knows Yiddish and is down-to-earth. He asks about prejudice against Jews, but Oppenheimer says where he works the scientists are all Jewish, so he didn’t sense bigotry. That statement also shows how Jews were exploited for their intelligence but also were subject to bigotry outside of the academic community. It is interesting that unlike Rabi who is connected to his Jewish New York roots, Oppenheimer takes positions at Cal Tech and Berkeley and there is a place in New Mexico that his brother owns. Oppenheimer is a traveler who seems rootless in his scientific quests except for a longing to return to the United States when away.

He starts out with a class with just Rossi Lomanitz (Josh Zuckerman) and more students then attend the study of quantum mechanics. However, political issues infiltrate the academic world. Ernest Lawrence (Josh Hartnett), working on practical applications such as a particle accelerator, warns Oppenheimer to keep political views, like being against the fascists in Spain, out of the classroom. The flashforward to the investigation into Oppenheimer’s life notes that the FBI had a file on the scientist before he even worked on government projects. Strauss testifies that there was suspicion about Oppenheimer’s left-wing views. Downey said that Nolan saw Strauss as a type of Salieri figure in Amadeus, jealous of someone who was considered a genius, like Mozart.

Oppenheimer, who declares that he is not a communist, talks about the dying of stars at a gathering of communist sympathizers. He says that when a star cools it collapses and the “gravity gets so contracted, it swallows everything.” His description of a black hole could symbolize his own rise and fall from public and private grace. At the party he meets Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) who wants him to become engaged more in practical solutions instead of theories, but he resists dogma. They become lovers. She has him read from one of his books which are the words of the Hindu God, Vishnu, who says “and now I am become Death. The destroyer of worlds.” She is having sex with him while he speaks. Dying and sexual climax are joined in often in poetry, and the scene is effective here in that aspect, and how Oppenheimer eventually sees himself in the same light as Vishnu.

The scene switches to a dark, desolate landscape in the howling wind in New Mexico which is a nice follow-up to the apocalyptic vision in the Sanskrit text. Oppenheimer and his brother Frank (Dylan Arnold) camp out. Oppenheimer says that when he was young, he thought that if he could combine physics with New Mexico his life would be good. He reaches that goal at Los Alamos, where his ideal situation also becomes the birthplace of enormous destruction.

Prior to the above time, there was no thinking of developing a bomb. But at Berkeley there is news that the Germans split an atom by bombarding it with neutrons. Oppenheimer says the math doesn’t show it’s possible, but Luis Alvarez, (Alex Wolff) working with Lawrence in the practical engineering department, replicates the German experiment, showing, as Lawrence says, that theory only takes one so far, and it doesn’t always predict reality. The fact that energy is released with fission points to the possibility of making an atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer is trying to live in the world of science along with elements of romance and politics to show some connection with Jean. He is not successful combining these parts of his life. She is unhappy with his lack of attention. He shows up with Alvarez to union meetings and argues with Lawrence about unionizing professors, which brings backlash from the university. On September 1, 1939, he co-publishes an article on black holes, a scientific breakthrough. It is in the theoretical world, divorced from the practical one, where he is most fulfilled.

The Nazis invade countries outside of Germany and the looming possibility of perverting pure science encroaches on Oppenheimer’s life. A quick shift to his interrogation shows that he did not like the communist view of noninvolvement toward the Nazi menace and did not join the Communist Party. He mentions that his wife, Kitty (Emily Blunt), was a communist a long time ago for a period because of her prior marriage. The committee tries to exploit the pasts of himself and those of others he was involved with.

We then shift to his meeting Kitty, and her rejection of the Party because of what to her was the senseless death fighting the fascists in Spain. They become lovers, she becomes pregnant, and both end their prior romantic involvements. But Kitty experiences the same detachment from her new husband as Jean did with her lover. Oppenheimer is not there as a husband or a father as his home is in the world of science.

Lawrence, being the practical one, which fits his engineering application job, warns Oppenheimer that his attachment to unions that are “filled with communists” alienates him from the Federal Government and inhibits his fight against the Germans who may develop an atomic bomb, as Einstein warned. So, Oppenheimer said his association with unions would not interfere with working on a nuclear deterrent to the Nazis. At that time, he was not persecuted, but when the McCarthy era began, his past came back to haunt him.

Strauss later says, “Genius is no guarantee of wisdom. How could this man who saw so much be so blind.” Again, Oppenheimer may see the unseen world, but it obscures his vision of the overt one. He can visualize the chain reaction of atomic particles, but not the cause and effect of his social actions.

However, he shows he can apply his scientific mind to making an atomic bomb before the Nazis developed one. He convinces the dubious head of the Manhattan Project, Major General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) that he can coordinate the development of a nuclear weapon and run the lab at Los Alamos. (Damon has a small mustache, like the real Groves, but here it reminds one of Hitler’s, and one scientist calls him “Generalissimo,” referencing Spain’s fascistic Franco, so there is authoritarianism present to a degree here, too). Groves tries to question Oppenheimer’s resolve by implying that nobody will receive a Nobel Prize for making a bomb. The scientist wittily responds that Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, which suggests the two sides of the coin that can come from inventions. Groves, however, does try to protect Oppenheimer from persecutions in the future. Oppenheimer knows that Groves can leverage him because of his left-wing past. Oppenheimer says that one thing they have going for them is “antisemitism,” implying the great scientists who are under Nazi rule are Jewish, and that might alienate the scientists and Hiter from each other.

Oppenheimer recruits American scientists, saying the government needs them, but as Alvarez notes wisely, “until they don’t.” We have here Oppenheimer’s dismissal of how politics works. Rabi does not want to join. He sees the bigger picture. He says, “You drop a bomb and it falls on the just and the unjust. I don’t want the culmination of three centuries of physics to be a weapon of mass destruction.” However, the immediacy of the problem wins him over. As Oppenheimer says, they might not be wise in the use of the atomic bomb, but he knows that the Nazis can’t be trusted with it. In this case, Oppenheimer is being realistic about the threat of Nazi world domination.

Edward Teller (Benny Safdie) hypothesizes that the detonation of a nuclear bomb could create a chain reaction that is unstoppable, destroying the world. Oppenheimer consults with Einstein. Einstein says that if widespread destruction is possible, then they must share the findings with the Nazis, because they would not want to obliterate what they want to conquer. After running through theoretical possibilities that world destruction was near zero the practical Groves says, “Zero would be nice,” an understated sarcastic statement given the horrific potential involved.

Another incident that haunts Oppenheimer at the investigation involves his friend, Haakon Chevalier (Jefferson Hall) who wanted the physicist to pass on information about the atomic bomb project to the Russians, who were our allies in WWII. Oppenheimer notes that act would be treason, but he did not report it as a security problem at the time, as he was caught between loyalty to his friend and his country.

The investigation attacks Oppenheimer, as he was warned by fellow scientists would happen. The government used him and when they were done, they went after him because of ties he had with others who were communists at one time. He had another liaison with Jean and Nolan puts in a stylized shot of a naked Oppenheimer making love to her while at the committee hearing which shows us what is going on in Oppenheimer’s mind. A livid Kitty watches as he admits to the one-night-stand. The image suggests that he is being exposed for not realizing how his past would resurface in his future. Later Jean commits suicide and Oppenheimer is plagued by guilt, here on a personal level, and later on a much wider scale.

The film shows several nasty individuals who saw the opportunity to better themselves at Oppenheimer’s expense after the scientist was no longer useful. One is Boris Pash (Casey Affleck) described by Groves as a man who has threatened to kidnap, interrogate, and kill possible allies of Russia. There is Roger Robb (Jason Clarke) who spearheads attacks in the committee questioning Oppenheimer’s loyalty. An example is his asking why Oppenheimer brought his ex-communist brother to Los Alamos, a politically naïve act on the part of the scientist. Another is William Borden (David Dastmalchian) who gets a hold of Oppenheimer’s classified file and accuses the physicist of helping Russia.

Bohr is able to escape to America. He says that Heisenberg is now working with the Nazis, which shows how dangerous the blooming nuclear age will become. Bohr is not there to help but to look beyond the current situation and urges Oppenheimer to use his influence to warn the U. S. Government that the world has moved into a frightening phase. He calls Oppenheimer a Prometheus figure. That image stresses the cause and effect of how discovering powerful tools can be used for terrible reasons. Maybe to convince himself, Oppenheimer repeats what Bohr said to him earlier by now saying, “You can’t lift the stone without being ready for the snake that’s revealed.” Bohr meant it as a warning, but Oppenheimer uses it as a natural consequence for the need to open a Pandora’s Box.

With the hydrogen bomb researched by Teller, there is the possibility, later realized, of a device a thousand times more powerful than an atomic bomb. As the scientists along with Strauss and government official Vannevar Bush (Matthew Modine) argue the need or danger of developing a hydrogen bomb, we get an intense subjective view from Oppenheimer’s perspective. The resounding sound of stomping feet resembling soldiers marching off to war echoes in his ears. He urges restraint in further development of nuclear arms and says that there should be restriction of an arms race with Russia, who has replaced Germany as an enemy. The implication here is that there will always be a foe to justify the further development of weapons. However, metaphorically, he is trying to defuse an explosive after he has already set it to go off.

Back to the Los Alamos lab, Oppenheimer uses a quote from John Donne who said in a sonnet, “Batter my heart, three-personed God.” So, he names the test “Trinity” to see if the A-Bomb will work. The reference is full of contradictions. The poem is a plea by a person who states the only way he can be saved is through force from a supreme being. Oppenheimer’s naming the test suggests that he sees salvation from evil (Nazism) only through submission to a greater power (atomic).

However, the Allies defeated Germany and Hitler was dead. The question is whether it is necessary to drop the fury of atomic bombs on Japan. Oppenheimer, along with Bush and Groves, meet with the Secretary of Defense Henry Stimson (James Remar) concerning this decision. Oppenheimer wants to backtrack now since the Nazis are no longer a threat. Why not show the Japanese the force of the bomb before dropping it? A lame excuse is that it might fail and that will reveal our plans. That would assume that Japan could somehow prepare for an atomic attack, doubtful at best. The military members there and the Secretary talk about the many thousands that will die in abstract terms. Stimson says he took the city of Kyoto off the list because he went there on his honeymoon. He is playing God with innocent lives based on nostalgic memories. A merciless Groves wants to drop two bombs to show the effectiveness of the blast and then to force a surrender. This strategy is based on the nonempirical conclusion that the Japanese will never surrender otherwise.

Nolan takes his time to depict the Trinity test detonation, building suspense by focusing on the different roles of those involved. The furious sound of violins on the soundtrack adds to the tension. Teller only uses a pair of sunglasses and sunblock on his face while he sits outside in a beach chair, as if he is watching for his own amusement a fireworks display. It shows his apocalyptic tendency, which is frightening in its cavalier attitude toward this event. IMDb notes that he resembles Dr. Strangelove, the mad scientist in the Stanley Kubrick film. Nolan does not give the audience the sound of the explosion here, only the fireball looking like a hellish inferno which ends in the dreaded mushroom cloud. The emphasis instead is on the breathing of those that developed this monstrous creation. Afterwards, there is cheering and applause, which is understandable given the intense work over three years to which the large group committed themselves. One who does not feel elated is Rabi, who was reluctant to participate on the project.

After all the intellectually detached scientific work, what they have made is a tangible weapon, and as it rides away on a military transport, the harsh reality of that fact sinks in as Oppenheimer hopes that the terror of the atomic bomb will stop all wars in the future. History has shown that although the far more destructive hydrogen bomb became the nuclear weapon of choice, there has been no use of it so far because of fear. But wars still rage on, and the potential for mass destruction looms over them.

After the bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, we then meet up again with the sound of those stomping feet in celebration now at Los Alamos. Oppenheimer says, “The world will remember this day,” but will it be in celebration or in infamy? That question is what exists inside of Oppenheimer’s mind. The background shakes and he gets a vision of the patriotic cheering of the project’s workers and their families turning into one of melting corpses. Oppenheimer concludes that he has become, like Vishnu, “Death. The destroyer of worlds.”

Oppenheimer meets with President Harry Truman (Gary Oldman) who acts like the Russians will not get the atomic bomb despite Oppenheimer’s belief that an arms race is possible and should be prevented. Oppenheimer wants nothing else to do with developing weapons and says they should give Los Alamos “back to the Indians.” Instead, despite the President’s position about the lack of the Russian nuclear capability, the administration wants to expand the New Mexico town to pursue the making of a hydrogen bomb. When Oppenheimer says that he feels he has blood on his hands, a dismissive Truman gives him a handkerchief as if he should wipe the blood off. He says that the use of nuclear weapons was his choice and its not about Oppenheimer. He then says to an aid to not let that “crybaby” back in his office. Truman here seems callous about the horrific effect of nuclear war and the emotional toll that weighs on those that contributed to it.

Scientists and those associated with Oppenheimer who were against further use of nuclear technology paid the price for their views. Oppenheimer’s brother was blacklisted by all the universities in the country and Lomanitz wound up laying track for the railroad. Chevalier went into exile most likely because of the shift to anticommunism in the United States

But Oppenheimer pushed for arms control instead of pursuing development of the H-Bomb, trying to compensate for that blood on his hands. The movie depicts Oppenheimer as a conflicted man, trying to navigate the morality of helping to create monstrous weapons for the immediate Nazi problem while at the same time advising against their construction in the future.

Strauss tells Oppenheimer that Klaus Fuchs (Christopher Denham), a scientist at Los Alamos, was providing information to the Soviets. Once there was confirmation of a spy at the test site, the FBI stepped up surveillance on Oppenheimer. The view here is that people can become guilty by association, not by fact.

Some of those government officials who supported Oppenheimer now try to bury him in the public view. Secretary of Defense Stimson now says the bomb was developed for an enemy that was already defeated. Strauss uses the press to step up his positive publicity by sending out the message through a reporter that Strauss fought Oppenheimer and America “won.” It turns out Borden, who lies when he says he had no contact with anyone from the AEC, received Oppenheimer’s private personnel file from the inferiority-complex-ridden AEC ranking member Strauss, who devised the way the scientist would be ruined. Borden, in a letter to J. Edgar Hoover, accused Oppenheimer of being a Russian undercover agent. Strauss didn’t want to give Oppenheimer a platform to be a “martyr.” He wanted a closed hearing in a small office, with no burden of proof needed to be established and no discovery of evidence for the defense, since the committee is not charging the physicist with a crime. The committee revokes Oppenheimer’s secret clearance, thus labeling him as a threat to United States security. Kitty knows it is Strauss behind the conspiracy, labeling him as being vindictive for perceived slights, and admonishes her husband justly for not fighting enough. He even shook Teller’s hand after Teller said he thought Oppenheimer was not a good security risk. All the while, Strauss, the proverbial snake in the grass, acts like he is helping Oppenheimer navigate the attack Strauss devised.

At Strauss’s Senate confirmation hearing regarding his nomination as Commerce Secretary, he is concerned he will be tainted by his connection to Oppenheimer. He makes sure he lets the Senate know that he disagreed with Oppenheimer about letting President Truman know about the possibility of a hydrogen bomb. Strauss also says that the Russians wouldn’t have known how to make an atomic bomb if there wasn’t a spy at Los Alamos, another attack on Oppenheimer because the physicist was the leader at Los Alamos.

However, Dr. David Hill (Rami Malek) testifies that American scientists, who rally around Oppenheimer, would like Strauss not hold any government position. He says that Strauss led the attack against Oppenheimer when the latter opposed the sale of isotopes to Norway in a manner that seemed to humiliate Strauss. Hill reveals that it was Strauss who had the hatchet man Robb appointed as the interrogating attorney. The confirmation hearing on Strauss ironically becomes the same type of defamation panel that Strauss concocted for Oppenheimer, with no burden of truth needed and no official trial administered. When Strauss thought that Oppenheimer said something negative about him to Einstein the truth was that they were not even talking about Strauss. The film implies that a person like Strauss who thinks everything going on is about them is very selfish in their insecurity. The Senate denies Strauss’s confirmation, with Senator John F. Kennedy being one of the deciding votes against Strauss.

The film ends as it began with that conversation by the pond with Einstein. He was telling Oppenheimer that government officials persecute you for their own guilt and years later give you an award to ease their consciences. We get a flash-forward of that scene as Oppenheimer, now an old man, receiving in 1963 the Enrico Fermi Award from President Lyndon Johnson. What shook Einstein into silence at the pond and his ignoring of Strauss was that Oppenheimer said to him that they had put into motion the chain reaction that would cause the inevitable destruction of the world.

Saving Private Ryan

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Just as in the recent movie 1917, the mission in Saving Private Ryan (1998) is an ironic one. In the middle of a war, where soldiers are usually sent out to kill, the goal here is to prevent death. It may seem odd to bring up Star Trek, but that film franchise raised an idea that fits here: Sometimes the need of the one outweighs the needs of the many. And this film implies that sometimes they are one in the same.

Director Steven Spielberg again explores (as he did in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E. T., War of the Worlds, and others) how ordinary people must deal with extraordinary circumstances. The film opens with an old man walking slowly through a military cemetery followed by a number of people (similar to the ending of Schindler’s List). The man is with his relatives and he begins to sob as he remembers the waves crashing on D-Day on Omaha Beach in France on June 6, 1944. The replication of the invasion that changed the course of WWII in this film has been considered by many, including those who experienced it, as possibly the most authentic rendition of the courageous and horrific nature of war. Captain Miller (another Oscar-nominated performance from Tom Hanks), although he shows that he can be cool and intelligent under pressure, reveals the effects of the stress of combat as his hand shakes while trying to drink from his canteen before the landing. During the story, Miller is at war with himself, as the trembling symbolizes, between what he considers is the right action to take, and what his orders command him to do.

The camera is right in the middle of the men, and we can almost experience their nausea as Miller’s boat rocks back and forth. Miller barks out orders as they approach land, telling the men to keep space between soldiers since groups of men provide a “juicy opportunity” for the enemy, while an infantryman by himself means firing to hit only him is “a waste of ammo.” Many soldiers don’t even get a chance to set foot on the sand as they are shot as soon as their boats open their ramps, which are called “murder holes” because they offer concentrated targets. Some soldiers try to go over the side of the craft and are weighed down by their gear. If the water doesn't drown them, bullets kill them in the water. Spielberg (winning his second directing Oscar here) gives us Miller’s point of view, and that of others, which makes us experience the devastation as if we are there on the beach with them. The camera literally bobs up and down below and above the surface of the water, simulating how it would feel if one of us was trying to stay afloat. Visual slow motion and sound muting adds to the feeling of confusion and disorientation. Bullets ring around the men (and the audience) and bombs explode everywhere. Some men are engulfed in their own napalm as a flamethrower explodes. Soldiers scream in agony. The craziness and barbarity of battle is evident through several shots. A soldier picks up the arm he just lost and tries to carry it with him. There is the futility of Miller trying to drag a wounded man to safety when he realizes after a bomb blast that he is now only holding onto the upper half of the soldier’s body. One moment can be lucky because a bullet glances off of a soldier’s helmet, but in the next moment, he is hit and killed. Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi) stops chest bleeding in one man only to have him shot in the head a second later. Such is the chaos that rules here. 

Hardly anything goes as planned. Miller’s attempts to communicate that the first wave was unsuccessful in taking the beach are thwarted, since the signalman is dead and his radio is destroyed. Most men are not where they are supposed to be as multiple companies have dispersed in a random manner. The armored division can’t make it to the beach. The Americans must take out an enemy machine gun nest that sits atop the seawall and is killing soldiers as if they are targets in a shooting gallery. Miller’s men use extended piping to set off grenades up the beach wall to clear a path toward the gunners. Miller shows his improvisational skills by attaching a mirror to a bayonet with some gum to identify the German men and their weapons. Miller sends up small groups of soldiers at a time, but Sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore) comments, “Why not just hand out blindfolds,” since it’s like facing a “firing squad.” But Miller says unfortunately it is their only option and otherwise, “All we can do here is die.” The film has many instances where there are no good choices.

Private Jackson (Barry Pepper) is the crack marksman under Miller’s command. Miller tries to give him a chance to reach a firing position by courageously running in the line of fire to provide a distraction. When he regroups with Horvath, the sergeant asks what Miller’s mother would think if she saw him be that reckless. Miller responds, “I thought you were my mother.” That they can use humor in this situation is remarkable, but also one of the few tools they have to cope with what’s occurring. Jackson has a crucifix that he kisses and prays to God before shooting. Later, he even says his deadly ability is a gift from the Almighty. It gives him strength to rely on his religious beliefs, but it is ironic that he calls on a supposedly benevolent entity to help kill others. 

Others also pray as they make their last confessions or plead to live. After Jackson is successful in taking out enemy soldiers, Miller and his men follow up with supportive fire and they can now shoot their way through to exit the beach. Another example of how the situation can change quickly in battle occurs when the shooting gallery metaphor is now reversed as American soldiers attack trapped German men as they come out of a bunker. Those that are left inside are incinerated with a flamethrower. The vengeful violence of war is seen when one soldier says not to be merciful toward the Germans by shooting them, but instead urges, “Let ‘em burn!” One enemy soldier raises his hands to surrender, but an American kills him anyway. Horvath and another soldier shoot two others that raise their hands. The irony is that they are not speaking German and are Czechoslovakian prisoners forced by the Germans to be soldiers. The film suggests that war is an immoral action, and decency and ethics many times are pushed to the side. 

Private Caparzo (Vin Diesel) hands a Hitler youth knife to the Jewish Private Mellish (Adam Goldberg), who says it is now “a shabbat challah cutter.” The satisfaction of the soldier feeling a sense of justice in getting this souvenir off of a dead Nazi is evident here. But, he then immediately feels shaken as the effects of all the killing washes over him. Horvath fills a small tin with sand and labels it “France” to be added to the ones that read “Africa” and “Italy,” which shows how much combat he has seen and illustrates how this conflict is truly a world war. As they take a break from the hostility, Miller’s hand is shaking again as the violence catches up to him while he looks down at the carnage on the beach of death. The camera then focuses in on one of the dead soldiers whose backpack reads, “Ryan. S.,” which brings us to the central plot of the story.

The scene shifts to a typing pool of women preparing the numerous condolence letters to be sent to the families of dead soldiers. One typist realizes that there are several Ryans killed in action. Three of the men turn out to be brothers. The fourth brother, James (Matt Damon), parachuted into Normandy and he is the youngest of the siblings. His whereabouts and condition are unknown. The mother lives on a farm in Iowa and a sense of dread reflects on her face as she sees the military vehicle approach her front door, and an officer and a priest approach her. She collapses on the floor before she even realizes the extent of her loss. 

The news reaches to the level of the U. S. Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall (Harve Presnell). He has a difficult decision to make (another one here), since he is advised that the parachutists were scattered all over the place, and even if Ryan survived the drop, he was probably killed in action. Also, anybody traveling through enemy territory to find the man would probably be KIA too. Marshall has a letter written by Abraham Lincoln to a mother who lost five sons in the Civil War. Marshall was so moved by the sacrifice of that one family that he recites the contents by heart. Marshall believes that Private Ryan is alive, and he is sending a rescue team to find him and “get him the hell out of there” before his mother loses her last boy. He feels that her family has sacrificed enough on what Lincoln called, “the altar of freedom,” a joining of a religious image with a secular abstract one.

In the second act of the movie, Miller reports to his superior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson (Dennis Farina). While waiting, Miller observes officers shaving, and enjoying coffee and a large sandwich. He must feel bitter that these men are experiencing such comforts after he and his men went through hell to allow these officers to make themselves at home. Anderson tells Miller he gets tough assignments because he can handle them, so he assigns Miller’s squad the job of rescuing Ryan. To acknowledge Horvath’s concern about the difficulty of the detail, Miller wittily admits it will be like looking for “a needle in a stack of needles.” Miller needs an interpreter and seeks out Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies), who speaks French and German. It is immediately evident that Upham does not have the stomach for combat. He is a nerdy type whose first response is to tell Miller he has not been part of the fighting and has not fired his weapon since boot camp. Even after what he has been through, Miller is still able to politely dismiss Upham’s reservations and tells him to get his gear. Miller actually finds Upham’s bumbling amusing as the corporal grabs a German helmet by mistake and juggles his typewriter, which Miller tosses since Upham must replace it with a weapon for this assignment. 

The squad is not thrilled with the newcomer’s presence and the assignment in general, since it seems to them that they are risking their lives for a public relations stunt. Upham is awkward as he tries to connect with the others, saying he thought soldiers should bond like brothers (which can apply literally to Ryan but also to the connection between combat comrades). Caparzo laughs off making a personal connection, saying that Miller won’t even tell them anything about his past. There is even a pool set up as the men guess Miller’s background. Later Private Reiben (Edward Burns) jokes that Miller was assembled out of dead body parts at Officer Training School. The feeling here is that they must rely on each other, but the closer they become, the harder will be the effect of losing a comrade. 

Reiben questions the logic of risking eight men for one private. Wade rightly points out the terrible impact on Ryan’s mother, but Reiben says they all have mothers. The bookish Upham quotes the famous lines from poet Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade,” by saying, “Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die.” The sarcastic Mellish considers it gibberish, but Miller says Upham is right. As soldiers it is their duty to follow orders, even if they are “fubar.” (It takes a while, as a sort of initiation prank, before the squad lets Upham know that the acronym means “fucked up beyond all recognition”). The questioning here gets at the central theme of the movie, which is, whether there is any time that soldiers can question the authority of those in higher positions. In the midst of battle, there is little time to be democratic. But, suppose the command is to do something considered irrational or even immoral? People have committed atrocities based on the reason that they were “just following orders.”

In this dangerous world even the drops in a pouring rainstorm hitting puddles seem like bullets landing. Miller’s squad reaches a town under fire from the Germans. Sergeant Hill (Paul Giamatti) is disappointed that the arriving men are not backups to offer support. But in order to proceed with the mission, Miller has to aid the other soldiers. A German on a loudspeaker says, “The Statue of Liberty is kaput.” Miller’s response is, “That’s disconcerting.” It is an example of using dark, understated humor to deal with a dire situation. Mellish ‘s character, as seen before, is more forthright in his comic remarks, and yells at the man on the bullhorn, “Your father was circumscribed by my rabbi, you prick.” These short lines illustrate the ability of the script to establish the differences in characters. Even small actions accomplish these distinctions. Under fire, Caparzo picks up fallen fruit from the ground, which not only shows calm while ducking a barrage of bullets, but also the need to eat, which is especially important to an Italian (which I can personally attest to). 

They come across a French family whose home now is the second floor of a building without a facade. As Upham translates, the father says he wants to give up his little girl so the soldiers can protect her. War literally rips apart the home and the members of a family. Caparzo, saying that the family’s little girl reminds him of his niece, takes the child and gives her his rosary. Just like Jackson’s crucifix necklace, here is another contrasting mingling of religion in the midst of violence. Miller yells at him, saying that he must leave the civilians there. Caparzo says taking the children to the next town is “the decent thing to do.” Miller says, “We’re not here to do the decent thing! We’re here to follow fuckin’ orders!” They are in the middle of a war, and Miller here argues that decency is not left to individual determination. 

Coming under the cynical axiom, “No good deed goes unpunished,” a sniper wounds the compassionate Caparzo. The enemy creates sympathy so that other soldiers will expose themselves to danger and try to rescue their comrade. In the upside-down existence of war, human caring is used as a tool to do more harm. Caparzo has a letter in his pocket that he wants sent home to his father which will act as a prayerful goodbye. But this farewell literally and figuratively has blood on it. The camera then shifts to the viewpoint of the German sniper. Through his telescopic sight he can see Caparzo talking to someone, so he knows where American soldiers are taking cover. He can’t act on this knowledge because the marksman Jackson, again invoking divine influence, shoots him. But, the damage is done as Caparzo is dead. The young French girl goes back to her family, hitting her father for having exposed her to danger, but here again he had no good choice to make given the harrowing alternatives. Miller says, as if summing up a lesson, that the death shows how they can’t take kids with them. He gets his men to move on quickly from this loss by yelling out orders. Because they have sacrificed one of their own for one man who is a stranger, Reiben curses Ryan, and, thus, the mission for which he and the others must risk their lives. 

 Hill sends a soldier to get Captain Hamill (Ted Danson) to see if the officer knows anything about Ryan. Hill sits down near a building just to check his boots. He accidentally knocks over a wooden beam that crashes through the wall of the building, revealing that German soldiers are hiding inside. One moment there is something trivial happening that then leads to a lethal situation. The scene again demonstrates how fragile and shifting existence is in war. The Americans and the Germans shout at each other, but nobody really wants to break the standoff which will cascade into annihilation, showing how aggression begets more aggression.  Luckily for the Americans, Hamill and some of his men have arrived at a spot above the confrontation and eliminate the Germans. Again, we have humor to offset this most dismal of circumstances. Horvath says, “it’s enough to make you old,” implying rapid aging. Miller counters with “Let’s hope so,” offering the hope to live a long life. 

What follows is a different form of cruelty perpetrated by the misunderstanding that results in the chaos of combat. Miller tells a soldier named Ryan (Nathan Fillion) that his brothers have died. The man breaks down crying and asks how it happened. When Miller tells him they were killed in action, he says that’s impossible because his brothers are in grammar school. He’s James Ryan from Minnesota, not Iowa, and has a different middle name. But Minnesota Ryan is so shaken that he wonders if it’s really his brothers who are the ones that are dead, and starts to repeat that he must get home to make sure his siblings are fine. Again, from one moment to another, lives can become undone. As Miller questions soldiers in Hamill’s camp, he finds that the mayhem is widespread, since parachutists fell far from their targeted landing sites. Hamill says they could use Miller’s squad, but he admits he understands Miller’s mission, which surprises Miller. Hamill says he has brothers, too, and he tells Miller to find Ryan and get him home. There is no definite right or wrong way to respond here. A viewpoint depends on one’s own experiences.

The squad spends the night in an empty church, with candles burning, as if a service is going on. It is another religious image that can mean many things: Is God on the side of the Americans?; Has the deity abandoned humankind because of its destructive ways?; Has the waging of war left a void of spirituality that is symbolized by the abandoned church? Horvath notes Miller’s shaking hand and humorously says that the captain needs to go into another line of work. Wade copies Caparzo’s bloody letter so he can send a cleansed version to the dead soldier’s dad (the letter eventually passes to Miller, and finally to Reiben as the wartime band of brothers is respected). Miller and Horvath laugh about the antics of a soldier named Vecchio (which in Italian means “old,” suggesting combat ages people, as Horvath noted). The name reminds Miller of another person of Italian heritage, Caparzo, and the mood shifts. Miller says with a grim reaper look on his face that he has lost ninety-four men under his command. But he says he tells himself that those lost saved so many others (in a way comparing the sacrifices to what Jesus did). He then gives a smile and says, “and that’s how simple it is,” admitting to the way he needs to justify his actions. Miller says that’s how he rationalizes “making the choice between the mission and the men.” His line sets up Horvath’s response that the situation now is different because “this time the mission is a man.” Ryan is one person so the only way to justify the mission is by what comes of him later. Miller says, “This Ryan better be worth it. He’d better go home and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting lightbulb or something.” But as things stand at this point, Miller may continue to carry out his orders, but inwardly he feels, “I wouldn’t trade ten Ryans for one Vecchio or one Caparzo.” Horvath adds an “Amen,” which continues the need to attach some form of religious truth in a desperate situation. 

Jackson does not seem to have any conflict in his beliefs since, as Reiben observers, Jackson can fall asleep immediately. Mellish observes that he must have a “clear conscience,” implying that Jackson knows he is righteous in what he is doing. Reiben, referring to how Jackson must feel, paraphrases a religious quote by saying, “If God’s on our side, who the hell could be on theirs?” The scholarly Upham provides the exact line, “If God be for us, who could be against us?” Although most would agree if there ever was a justifiable war, it was this one that stopped Hitler and his Nazi agenda. But, the film here is talking about war in general, and there have been many fatalities because leaders said God was on their sides. 

Miller walks among the talking men, telling them to get some sleep, tucking them in as if they are children under his paternal care. Miller asks how the untested Upham is doing. His response surprises Miller. The man says that what he is undergoing is good for him, and again uses a quote that advocates that war can strengthen a man’s resolve. In the absence of real experience, Upham turns to books which can inform but are no substitute for actual immersion in the horrors of war. We realize that Miller is an educated person since he knows the lines are from Ralph Waldo Emerson, and says the writer was probably just, “finding the bright side” in an otherwise unpleasant situation.

The squad arrives at a rally point where a glider went down. The craft was too heavy because extra metal was welded on to protect a general who was a passenger. The pilot wasn’t told of the extra weight. We have here an incompetent military action that is a counterproductive attempt to shield a high-ranking officer. It also shows a parallel attempt to save one life at the expense of others. The comparison to their mission is not lost on the squad. However, Miller’s team is trying to save a man whose average family has already suffered great loss due to the international conflict. The squad sorts through the dog tags of all the dead soldiers at this outpost to see if Ryan’s is among them. They make jokes, saying they can use them as poker chips. As airborne servicemen look glumly on, the compassionate medic, Wade, who has had to treat the wounded and those who he could not save, is outraged by this cold activity, and grabs the tags. Out of desperation, Miller calls out to the marching men if any know anything about Ryan. He finds out that the private is at the town of Ramelle, which is strategic because a bridge there allows tanks to cross the river. 

On their way they encounter another enemy bunker housing a machine gun. The men feel that they should just go around the threat since they see it as an unnecessary risk to engage it. They throw Miller’s words back at him, saying it is not their mission. But Miller, after seeing all of the casualties along the way, appears to want to look at the bigger picture now, and worries about the next group of soldiers that have to deal with this German military obstacle. He now says their mission is “to win the war.” But the assault ends in Wade’s agonizing death. 

There is one German alive (Joerg Stadler), and the others, except for Upham, want to kill the soldier. Miller wants him alive long enough to dig Wade’s grave. Upham wants to know if Miller is going to allow the others to kill the German. He tells the captain, “This is not right, sir.” Here again the film presents the difficulty in determining what is the “right” thing to do in a situation where all of society’s restrictions have been pushed aside. Miller, most likely feeling guilt and a desire for revenge, does not give Upham a straight answer. Upham, the outside observer here, asks out loud, “What is happening?” His disorientation is evident as the rules he lives by are not in play here. 

Miller’s hand is shaking more now and he sobs in private, allowing himself to feel the loss of Wade, and his culpability in the man’s death. As the German digs, Upham, trying to hold onto his humanity, offers water to the prisoner, but Reiben stops him from showing any kind of mercy. A little later Upham allows the enemy soldier to take a break and smoke a cigarette. The German seems to be trying to exploit Upham’s sympathy, joking about Mickey Mouse. When the other Americans arrive, the German acts desperately to delay any execution by wanting to keep digging. He says he likes America and spews out several American slang expressions. He even tries to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and says, “Fuck Hitler.” Would an American soldier captured by the Germans try the same ploys? 

Upham pleads that the man is a prisoner-of-war and they can’t just execute him. Miller allows the soldier to keep his blindfold on, walk a distance away so he won’t know where the Americans are going, and then surrender himself to an Allied patrol. Reiben, Mellish, and Jackson don’t understand how Miller could let the man go. Upham says it’s against the “rules” to shoot a P.O.W. Reiben says that the “rules just walked off,” which shows how war’s suspension of life’s laws can lead to losing one’s soul. A brief mutiny occurs led by Reiben who questions angrily Miller’s orders to attack the German bunker and release the prisoner. He wants to know why Ryan “is more important than two of our guys!” Horvath attempts to discipline Reiben, throwing the man to the ground for being “out of line.” For Horvath, whatever is the decision of the commanding officer, a soldier must follow the direction of that “line” set forth by the leader. But what if the order is morally compromised, or what if the view of the subordinate is warped? Again, the movie does not offer easy answers. Reiben says he is through with the mission. Horvath tells him if he leaves he’ll shoot him. 

As shouting and arguing breaks out among the soldiers and Horvath points a gun at Reiben, Miller is at first quiet in the mayhem. He then diverts and diffuses the situation by asking his men what the pool is up to on him. He discloses that he has been a schoolteacher for the past eleven years. He teaches English composition in a small town in Pennsylvania, and was also the baseball coach. His background seems unsuited to lead men into battle, but it is obvious that he has stepped up to serve his country as an officer. He admits that he has been changed by the war to the point he wonders if his wife will even recognize him or believe what he has undergone. He doesn’t care about Ryan, he says, but if he can save him, then maybe it earns him a better chance to return to his wife, because killing only takes him “farther away from home.” Here is where the film suggests, as some religions do, that saving one man can save others. He offers Reiben the chance to leave, but after all of the men bury Wade, he sticks with the squad.

On the road, they take cover when a German armored vehicle rides by. It sustains a bazooka attack and Miller’s squad shoots the German soldiers trying to get away. On the other side of the road are soldiers who disabled the German half-track led by Corporal Henderson (Max Martini). With Henderson is the elusive Private Ryan. After Miller tells Ryan about his brothers, besides having to deal with the loss, he also feels he is abandoning his post. His orders are to hold the bridge in the bombed-out town until reinforcements arrive. Ryan finds out that Miller’s squad has lost two men on the mission to bring him back. These additional deaths for which Ryan had nothing to say about makes him sum up what war is when he says, “It doesn’t make any sense.” He tells Miller that they should tell his mother that he remained “with the only brothers I have left.”  Here again we see how the individual is inextricably intertwined with the fate of others.

We have entered the third act of the story. Miller has to decide as to whether to let Ryan stay and the squad leave, or help him out in the current predicament. Miller asks Horvath, who says maybe they can look back and be able to say, “that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole god-awful, shitty mess.” Thus, the mission incorporates more sacrifice but also a broader fight to do “the decent thing,” which Miller earlier said was not what they were there for. But since Miller has become convinced that saving Ryan may morally grant him passage home, he is onboard with what Horvath says. Miller sets up a strategy to have marksman Jackson go up a tower and shoot the enemy from above. He wants to bring German tanks down the main road toward the bridge and disable their treads with “sticky bombs.” They are placed in socks and covered with grease that will attach to the tanks. Reiben, again coping with humor, says, “now we have to surrender our socks.” If the Germans get past them, then they must retreat and blow up the bridge, which will not be a victory but will stop the enemy from using it.

Mellish says the soldiers will be moving around a lot and he gives Upham the task of carrying and feeding the others ammunition since he is the novice when it comes to combat. The sad singing of Edith Piaf plays, fitting the mood, but the soldiers joke to cope during this calm before the storm prelude. Horvath sways his handgun to the music, an image combining creation through art and destruction through violence. Ryan talks with Miller, and says he can’t picture the faces of his brothers, which shows how war can wipe out all that is good about life. Miller tries to help him, saying when he thinks about home, he pictures what gave him solace, such as a “hammock in the backyard, or my wife pruning the rose bushes in a pair of my old work gloves.” These are the simple things that are reminders of how things were, and contain the hope of returning to what it was like after the current horror ends. Ryan remembers a crazy, funny incident that involved him and his three brothers, one of which was literally trying to have a roll in the hay with a girl. After laughing, the grief sets in again, and Ryan says that event was the last time the four were together, which was two years prior. 

From fond nostalgia, to quiet melancholy and now to imminent danger, war again shows how quickly it disrupts the timeline. The rumbling of armory ruptures the tranquility and the soldiers disperse to their positions. Jackson in the tower signals that there are a couple of tanks coming and the Americans are very outnumbered by the approaching German infantry. During the ensuing battle, the camera, like it did at the beginning of the film, puts us at ground level, and makes us feel like we are soldiers, running through a firestorm of bullets. Miller tries to keep Ryan out of danger as much as possible. But the surprise here is that Reiben, who almost led a revolt against continuing the mission, rescues Ryan from an explosion. It seems saving Ryan has become the goal of the whole squad to achieve salvation amid the hell of battle. 

But there will be tragic sacrifice for that atonement. Despite hitting many of his targets, Jackson misses a couple, which is an omen of what is to come. A German tank zeroes in on his position above, fires, and the blast kills Jackson. Upham cringes in hiding and hesitates bringing ammo. Mellish gets into hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier in one of the buildings. Upham, ironically wearing belts of bullets but who is only fit to handle a typewriter and not a weapon, ascends the stairs slowly instead of rushing to Mellish’s aid. The German kills Mellish with a bayonet to the heart. The enemy soldier heads down the stairs, walks past the terrified Upham, and doesn’t bother with him. He knows that Upham is not a threat. This image is a damning one since the enemy soldier is telling Upham that the American is impotent in the presence of his own fear.

Horvath is wounded in an exchange with a German, and grabs the frozen Upham as the Americans must retreat to the “Alamo” spot, the bridge that must be destroyed to prevent the Germans from using it. Upham hides again while the others scramble. He is like a ghost and the Germans pass over him, which, ironically, saves him, although he is spiritually dead. Horvath is shot multiple times. His tough stoicism is in evidence as he says he just had the “wind knocked out” of him. As Miller prepares to blow up the bridge, an explosion knocks the detonator out of his hands. There is symmetry at this point as Miller experiences the same disorientation that occurred on Omaha Beach, as the camera again slows to jerky movements and the sound is muted. Miller sees Ryan crying over a lost comrade and he realizes that Horvath is dead. In an ironic moment, the captured German who Miller set free is here and shoots Miller as he tries to retrieve the detonator. Even though he is dying, Miller refuses to give up, shooting at an approaching German tank with his handgun. The tank explodes and Miller sees that an American plane has destroyed it. More planes fly overhead attacking the Germans. The timid Upham survives and comes out of hiding to capture a group of Germans, including the one for whom he asked for mercy and now has shot Miller. Upham uses his rifle just this one time and kills the German soldier, probably out of revenge and guilt. But he contradictorily allows the other Germans to leave. The film suggests that war is irrational, and it creates conflicts not only between others but also within individuals.

Reiben’s attempt to help Miller is futile. He calls for a medic as the still alive Ryan kneels near Miller. The airborne soldier tells Miller that the American planes are P-51’s, known as “Tank-busters.” Miller continues the film’s seemingly conflicting mingling of violence and religion by calling them, “Angels on our shoulders.” Miller’s last words are to Ryan as he wants him to play forward the huge sacrifice made to save him. Miller says, “Earn this. Earn it.” 

The words written by General Marshall to Ryan’s mother assuring her of the return of her son who distinguished himself in combat are spoken, as he repeats Lincoln’s words. Ryan’s young face transforms into his older self (Harrison Young) who was in the first scene of the movie. Ryan visits the grave of Miller. He addresses Miller by saying he has led his life the best he could and hopes he earned what they did for him. His words speak for everyone who owes a debt to those who fought and still fight for the lives of others. 

Since words are important, the next film is appropriately titled, The Words.