Saving Private Ryan

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Saving Private Ryan. Saving Private Ryan follows the story of an Army Ranger Captain named John Miller. The movie begins with a graphic depiction of the beach landing at Normandy. Despite the many Allied casualties, Captain Miller and his band of men manage to survive. Captain Miller is given the order to go behind enemy lines in search of a Private James Ryan. Private Ryan's three brothers have all been killed in the opening days of the war, and the government is determined to bring at least one Ryan boy home. The movie follows to the environments and situations presented in WWII very closely. The sounds, guns, and locations used in the movie are historically accurate. Spielberg took extreme care in making sure that the movie was as historically correct as possible in regards to situations and locations. Captain Miller and his band of men set off in search of this lone soldier. Along the way they encounter weakened Allied companies which must be fortified, and even a German radio station. Despite viewing the mission to find Private Ryan as strategically wrong, the soldiers do as all good soldiers would, and follow orders. Once the men find Private Ryan, they are forced to help defend the bridge which Ryan has been left to "babysit" in Remmel. During the successful defense of the bridge, Captain Miller is killed. Miller's dying words to Ryan are "earn this". Hollywood's version of this particular aspect of the story is absolutely fiction. There are of course some historical inaccuracies which are in my opinion not harming our understanding of past events and historical figures. In the actual event on which the story is based, there is no heroic bridge defense. Speilberg's story is based upon the experience of a man named Fritz Niland. Niland did actually have three other brothers. Two of the brothers were killed, but the third brother was missing in action and

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