THE CAST

Tom Hanks(Captain Miller)

In this movie,he’s performing an excellent captain in the army.

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks became the first actor in over 50 years to win back-to-back Best Actor Academy Awards® when he took his second Oscar® for his unforgettable performance in the title role in Robert Zemeckis' "Forrest Gump." In addition, his work in the film brought him a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Matt Damon (Private Ryan)

He is the main character of the movie ， all story surrounding him then proceeds.

Matt Damon In 1998, he won an Academy

Award® for Best Original Screenplay (with Ben Affleck) for the acclaimed drama "Good Will Hunting." Damon also earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actor for his work in the title role. In addition, he and Affleck received a Golden Globe Award for their screenplay, and Damon garnered a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. The Film also received seven more Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Picture.

Tom Sizemore (Sergeant Horvath)

Tom Sizemore won the Best Actor Award at the 1997 Madrid Film Festival for his performance as a tough Chicago police detective in the supernatural thriller "The Relic." He had earlier received critical praise for his work as Scagnetti, the self-promoting detective on the trail of two serial killers, in Oliver Stone's controversial "Natural Born Killers."

Barry Pepper (Private Jackson)

Barry Pepper recently wrapped production on the film "Enemy of the State," due out this fall, in which he co-stars with Gene Hackman, Will Smith and Jon Voight.In this movie,he is a sharpshooter.

THE STORY

World War II was a pivotal event of the 20th century and a defining moment for America and the world. It shifted the borders of the globe. It forever changed those who lived through it, and shaped generations to come. It has been called "the last great war."

Nothing could have prepared the soldiers at Omaha Beach for the battle they are about to wage. Filled with hope and resolve, none of them knows if they will survive the small strip of beach ahead of them. As his eyes scan the Normandy coast, Captain John Miller (TOM HANKS) believes that getting himself and his men past the gauntlet is the greatest challenge he has faced in the war. But his most difficult task still lies ahead.

Even as the Allied forces begin to get a foothold at Omaha, Miller is ordered to take his squad behind enemy lines on a dangerous mission to find and retrieve one man: Private James Ryan (MATT DAMON). The youngest of four brothers, Ryan is the last survivor, the other three having all been killed in action within days of one another.

As the squad pushes deeper into enemy territory, Captain Miller's men find themselves questioning their orders. Why is one man worth risking eight... why is the life of this private worth more than their own?

Amid the chaos and terror of those days in early June 1944, this remarkable story searches to find decency in the sheer madness of war.

Review

“Saving Private Ryan", the true story.• On July 26, 1998 Steven Speilberg's World War Two epic film “Saving Private

Ryan” will open in the movie theaters. The film we understand opens with the title "Based on a true story." We do not know if this will be in the final cut.

• The story takes place during the invasion of Normandy in World War Two. Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe, June 1944. The invasion and the war happened. The film's story is that Private Ryan, a paratrooper, has been accidentally dropped behind German lines.Unfortunately, his three brothers have already been killed: one on Omaha beach, one on Utah beach, during the D-Day invasion, and the third in the Pacific. In order to prevent Ryan's mother having all her sons killed in the war, he is ordered from combat. The problem is he is behind the German lines. So how do they get him out?

The true story was - according to our research, the Ryan character is based on Fritz Niland, who lost two brothers in Normandy and a third brother, who was M.I.A. in Burma, was presumed dead. The third brother was later found alive. Niland, (the real soldier) was dropped behind German lines as were many other paratroopers mis-dropped all over Normandy.

The military rule about sole surviving son's being allowed out of combat is true. It was enacted after the five Sullivan brothers were killed in 1942 when the U.S.S. Juneau was sunk in the Pacific. The rule of the surviving son is common to many armies, the American, the Canadian, the British and the Israeli.

Before analysis ,let’s see some vocabulary

• reason 理性• MID-CENTURY 中世紀 • Dignified 尊嚴的 , 有地位的 , 有品級的 ; 高貴

的• “ Landing Operation on Normandy.” 諾曼地登陸• subordinate 從屬者 , 部下 , 部屬• argument 論證 ( 透過推論 )• object 對象 客體

The Analysis

WHAT IS WAR?WHY DO THEY HAVE TO

SAVE RYAN? AM I A GOOD MAN?

What is war? In the first 30 minutes of this movie, there

came a very cruel killing scene. This scene pointed a topic of this film. In this 30 minutes, we can see the deepest accusation to the 20th CENTURY of Human History. In western world, about 2000 to 3000 years ,they always talked about “Reason” .And 1500 years of MID-CENTURY,the culture was based on the love of religious spirit. But after thousands of years, what have people became? The answer is: unbelievable amount of people were killed in the two World Wars in the first half of 20th century.Thousands of people lost their lives for their country and peace.

After 1950s, many thinkers came out with these questions:

“Is the culture of people indeed progressing?”

“Did the development of human culture make human being become more dignified and valuable?”

“IF something was wrong in tradition, how could we find the value of human being?where is it?”

Maybe we can find the same questions in “Landing Operation on Normandy.”The Symbol of people who killed each other……

A mother lost three sons in this battle…and the rest one is still under the war. His name is Ryan.The General ordered Captain Miller to save Ryan with 7 subordinates.But it might be not reasonable… (8 lives to exchange 1 life)With anger ,they all thought it’s ridiculous ,but an order is an order…

WHY DO THEY HAVE TO SAVE RYAN?

Here is an argument about

the meaning of “name”

1. At that moment,”Ryan” was just a “word”to them,it was “nothing.”

2. BUT a NAME should represent an object,the content of this WORD.

3. And “Ryan” is represent a Human ,with blood and bone .

4. How can a “human” equal “nothing”?5. So,there must be something ironic and

contradictory ! 6. This name(word)”Ryan” means this object

“Ryan”.7. However,how can they completely understand

this word?8. Maybe they can do it by“Reason.”But how to do?9. “To think what benefit they can get? Or their

country could get some benefit?”10. This is a Reasonable thinking way. 11. In this way ,the word “Ryan” will really become

“Nothing”!

So,we must work out some way to solve it.Maybe the answer is”to get with Ryan” By doing so ,they can really know what”Ryan”is and”Who is Ryan?”(But they would not think about it until they met Ryan)

I got an idea here:when facing something, we could not “realize it only by “Reason”.We have to join in ,get with or do it in person.(There are obvious examples:LOVE or TO LOVE SOMEBODY)

After a long and hard distance ,Miller and his soldiers finally found Ryan.They asked him to go with them.But Ryan was not willing to do.He wanted to defense his base.That caused an argument of Miller and Ryan .Then the other soldiers shouted to Ryan”For you,we lost 2 partners!”

Hearing that ,the first reaction of Ryan was “what are their name?”

Obviously, to Ryan ,the“name”is important. He cared what is behind the”name” is.

The reason of Ryan not to quit this base was that he must be responsible for his partners and himself.

At final Miller and his Sergeant Horvath realized one thing,in this war ,instead of killing somebody ,their mission is to save somebody!

Horvath said”Maybe someday we recall now,we will find this is the most meaningful thing in this battle .”

Actually,they not only found Ryan ,but also more valuable thing!

AM I A GOOD MAN? At the end of the film,old Ryan asked

his wife”Am I a good man?Am I worthy of these people’s sacrifice?”  

Ryan didn’t quit his base in battle. He thought he must be responsible for

his partners and himself.That is,he was responsible for his life.And he really care others’ life.

So,he was deserved,I think. When a thinker talked about “What is the

value and meaning of life?”He said”Don’t think ,just do it!” 

The meaning of life is on the process of life.Everyone has his own special meaning from that.

The process is including one communicating with others.This is my conclusion.

THE MOVIE STARTS NOW…

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