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.

The Third Man

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Sometimes I have written posts about movies that class members analyzed at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. Since we have not been able to meet in person due to the pandemic, we used Zoom to talk recently about The Third Man (1949), directed by Carol Reed with a screenplay by famed author Graham Greene. As our instructors noted, this film is subversive in many ways. Instead of filming on a movie set as was the norm, the story was shot on location in Vienna. Given the city, one would expect classical music from the likes of Mozart to play in the background. Instead, director Reed used the now famous zither soundtrack played by Anton Karas, which resembles upbeat Greek dancing music, but which, as Roger Ebert implied, has a melancholy feel to it. We also don’t see the great Orson Welles until most of the film has played, and he is on screen for a very short time. (Later use of stars in this limited way are Janet Leigh in Psycho and Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now). The film also does not have an upbeat ending, which defied the rules of the time.

The unconventional moviemaking aspects reflect how the story indicates that the devastation of World War II has swept away the reliable rules on which the world was based. What’s left of the great architecture of Vienna stands in stark contrast to the rubble that makes the metropolis, as the cynical narrator at the beginning says, look, “Bombed about a bit.” He notes that what happened in Vienna didn’t “really look any worse than a lot of other European cities.” So Vienna is representative of the horror the war inflicted over the entire continent. The narrator is a child of the new chaos who “never knew the old Vienna,” the one of tradition and civilized culture. He only knows about the current time when the black market prospers in the darkness, but which has its casualties, too, just like the war, since “amateurs” meet their ends in this moral vacuum. To accentuate what the narrator says there are shots of stolen goods being exchanged and a dead body floating in the river. 

The narrator sets the stage by saying Vienna was occupied in four zones by America, Great Britain, France, and Russia. Outsiders, who don’t speak the native language, and don’t share a standard means of communication, have torn the city apart. The result is instability, a sense that the world is, as Ebert says, “out of joint.” Reed and cinematographer, Robert Krasker, convey that feeling of disorientation by employing numerous tilted shots, called Dutch Angles. The movie uses large, distorted, looming shadows in dark streets, reminiscent of paintings by Georgio de Chirico, and, as Ebert mentions the results are “an expressionistic nightmare.” The style of the film suggests how danger has filled the void left by the absence of an orderly, meaningful universe. 

The narrator then introduces us to the specific tale to be told. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is an American writer who has money problems and has come to Vienna at the invitation of his college friend, Harry Lime (Welles) to accept a job. However, Holly discovers that Harry died in an automobile accident and was buried. There are inconsistencies about whether Harry died instantly or had time to communicate his wishes about Holly and his girlfriend, Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli). Also, the accident supposedly occurred in the presence of Harry’s physician, Dr. Winkel (Eric Ponto), and two other people Harry knew, Baron Kurtz, played by Ernst Deutsch (does he really have that title, and if so, he does not act nobly), and a man named Popescu (Sigfried Bauer). That all three happened to be there at the same time seems too coincidental to Holly. After Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) tells Holly that he was investigating Harry for murder and racketeering, and eventually tells him that he thinks Harry was murdered. Holly vows to find out what really happened to his friend. Harry’s building porter (Paul Horbiger) tells Holly that there were three men who carried Harry away from the accident. One was Kurtz, another Popescu, and another, an unidentified “third man.”

Holly writes old-fashioned Western novels. They tell stories about good guys in white hats beating bad guys in black hats, and then most likely the hero rides off into the sunset toward a happy life. He is an anachronism, naive and ill-equipped to deal with the current post-war world where there is no noble battle between good and evil being fought. When the porter says that Harry either went to hell, the man points upward, or he went to heaven, and he points downward. Anne says to Calloway that when it comes to Harry, the Major is seeing things “upside down.” Indeed, almost everything in this movie is upended and not what it seems as secrets reside under appearances, or is the opposite of what is expected. There is the character named Crabbin (Wilfrid Hyde-White) who says he represents the British cultural department in Vienna, a place that has had its culture ravaged. Crabbin’s last resort to promote literature is to enlist the bottom-of-the barrel pulp writer Holly, who isn’t even from Vienna, to speak at a lecture. Crabbin wants Holly to talk about “The crisis of faith.” Holly’s response is, “What’s that?” Crabbin says, “Oh, I thought you’d know.” As this conversation shows, everybody is clueless here, especially about what to believe in. Even the ride to the lecture doesn’t appear to be what it seems. Holly is told a car is waiting for him. Inside is an imposing, silent man who recklessly drives away. Holly has no idea where he is going until he gets to Crabbin’s event, and is frightened along the way. Again, uncertainty and doubt reign in this confusing time. Holly and Anna discover that Kurtz, Winkel and Popescu were all secretly involved in criminal activity with Harry, who was getting a hospital worker, Joseph Harbin, to steal penicillin. Harry then diluted the drug so he could sell larger amounts on the black market to the victims of the war, causing many people to suffer and die. Even Anna has something to hide since she has a fraudulent passport because she doesn’t want to be turned over to the Russians. 

Besides the skewed camera angles, the film uses different tactics to suggest that there are no social or moral anchors to steady people’s orientation, which leaves the characters feeling detached from the stability that civilizations are meant to provide. Many of the characters are in such a fog they can’t even get the names of others straight. Holly calls Calloway, “Callahan.” Dr. Winkel’s name should be pronounced as if it starts with a “V,” but the “W” sound is used instead. Anna addresses Holly as, “Harry.” (More on that later). Ebert points out that even the name on Harry’s tombstone is wrong. Communication breaks down as the meaning of words is muddled. A British MP tells Anna that they must follow “protocol.” Anna says she doesn’t know “what protocol means.” The MP responds, “Neither do I.”  Also, the movie includes professions that feature putting on shows and presenting pretend events. Holly is a fiction writer. Anna is an actress. An amusement park is depicted. We are, after all, watching a made-up work, a film. Reality begins to lose its hold in this atmosphere, and surrealism takes over. So, when a huge, ominous shadow approaches, suggesting danger, turns out to be a little guy selling balloons the implication is that we can’t trust what we believe to be true. 

Holly eventually discovers that Harry is alive, which is another example of the upside-down nature of this world. Harry is supposed to be underground, below the surface. But, that is a lie, and he is alive and above ground, so what is above the surface and that which is below it are deceptions. When they dig up Harry’s grave they find the body of the penicillin provider, Joseph Harbin, there instead. The implication was that it was Harry who was “the third man” carrying the body. To get at the truth is difficult in this world, as Calloway says, “We should have dug deeper than a grave.” (Harry Lime’s last name, according to IMDb, could refer to writer Graham Green’s last name, a lime being green. However, to “lime” a leaf or twig is to use a sticky substance to catch or ensnare something. That definition would fit in with Harry’s character). 

Holly sends a message to Harry through Kurtz and Winkel to meet him near the Ferris wheel at a fairground. We then have the pivotal scene between Holly and Harry. The criminal is deceptively charming, throwing others off guard, who do not suspect him to have done nasty deeds. The two ride the Ferris wheel, a symbol of the rotating, upside-down upheaval of morality that has taken place, and the resulting disequilibrium that ensues. Holly confronts his old friend with how he has created victims with what he has done with the penicillin. Harry presents a cynical, nihilistic philosophy that places self-interest above the concerns for others in an ethically barren existence. He says, “Victims? Don’t be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me, would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?” Harry, at the top of the ride, is like a merciless god, feeling himself above any laws or rules, and the only obligation he has is to himself. He goes on to say that the whole world shares his view now since, “Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don’t.” His pessimistic view of life on earth is shown when he says, “the dead are happier dead. They don’t miss much here, poor devils.” Harry even argues that mayhem coincides with greatness, while caring and harmony lead to nothing noteworthy. He says, “in Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.” Harry even made a deal to expose Anna’s fake passport if the Russians would let him hide in their sector. But, he wouldn’t dream of atoning for his transgressions. He indicts Holly’s innocent ignorance of the state of affairs when he says, “You didn’t expect me to give up? … Oh, Holly, you and I aren’t heroes. The world doesn't make heroes outside of your stories.” Harry almost thinks about killing Holly after he finds out that he told the police about seeing Harry alive. It’s possible this betrayal shows Harry that Holly also has faltering ethics. He tells Harry that they can meet again, but without any police presence.

Holly has fallen in love with Anna, and makes a deal with the authorities that he will set a meeting with Harry if they let Anna go free. But, Anna does not have romantic feelings for Holly, and is repulsed by the deal he has made. She still loves Harry, even after learning of his crimes. What does that say about her moral compass? Calloway takes Holly to see the patients that Harry put in harm’s way. Holly agrees to lay a trap for Harry. Now let’s get back to how Anna would substitute Harry’s name when addressing Holly. At the stakeout, Holly sits in a cafe. Written on the window next to him is the word “dopple.” This shot implies that Harry and Holly are doubles of the same person, each representing positive and negative qualities. Holly can go the dark side, as he has done, betraying Harry.

Anna appears and warns Harry of the ambush. Harry goes into the underground sewers. He has descended into the hell of the underworld where his befouled soul already belongs, where he can’t hide by pretending to be something other than what he is. The authorities pursue him and Harry shoots one of Calloway’s men. Holly picks up the fallen man’s gun and goes in pursuit. Harry finds himself trapped, like “a cornered rat,” as Ebert observes. Harry slowly nods as Holly approaches, giving Holly permission to perform a vigilante killing. Although justice has been dispensed, it is outside of the legal system, and Holly now has the stain of killing another human being darkening his previous innocent nature.

Ebert says the film, “reflects the cold war years of paranoia, betrayal, and the bomb.” Given that gloomy perspective, it is no wonder that the last image of the movie has a long shot of Anna walking toward Holly, but then passing him by without a sign of recognition. There is no riding off into the sunset with the promise of living happily ever after. The journey ahead is a difficult and lonely one.

The next film is Saving Private Ryan.