Saving Private Ryan, a film related to World War II, directed by Spielberg, received critical acclaim upon screening. The upsurge of Saving Private Ryan is not only because it is realistic visual impact, what is more important, this film led to an argument about lives.
During World War II, the U.S. and U.K. army landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. To insure the victory, Private James Ryan （Matt Damon）， and his troops --101st Airborne Division, are airdropped behind the German front-lines. Unfortunately, all his three brothers were killed in action at the same time. In order to prevent the unfortunate mother from losing all her four sons, the U.S. command decided to send a special squad to look for James Ryan and take him back safely.
John Miller （Tom Hanks） was chosen as the caption of the rescue squad. He hurried to pick several excellent soldiers and a staff officer who could speak German and French as the squad members. When other soldiers were resting, Miller』s eight-member squad began to look for Ryan, who was in the unknown area controlled by Germans.
When facing all kinds of dangers and death of teammates one by one, the squad members gradually began to doubt the rationality of this task. Is it worthy of saving one soldier at the risk of losing eight soldiers』 lives? The journey of salvation tested every member』s value of human nature.
After experiencing lots of difficulties, the squad found Ryan in a battlefield. But the brave soldier Ryan who had a strong sense of responsibility was not willing to leave his comrades in the battlefield. So the squad decided to fight with the large number of enemies ahead with Ryan and other soldiers. As a result, six people in the eight-member squad died.
Miller was the last man who died in the squad, before his death, Miller entrusted to Ryan: Earn it. What can be understood as" Keep living "or" It is worth saving you」。 In order to ensure this action to be worthy, Ryan must keep living and have a good and meaningful life. Miller wanted to tell his died comrades and himself, 「This is all worthwhile!」
It can only happen in the war that six people』s lives in exchange for the life of one person. War changes people』s value of life. The soldiers kill enemies or save comrades only to complete their tasks, and then, go back home. Some media also talked about this controversial issue.
According to Mark Heisler in his Los Angeles Times review entitled 「The mission is a man. In the Last Great Invasion of the Last Great War, The Greatest Challenge for Eight Men was Saving One. There were only one man left in the family, and the mission was to save him.
This comment makes a good conclusion of the theme of Saving Private Ryan. Why should these eight men save one soldier at the risk of death？These sentences give explanations. In order to allow more people to get out of the war and go back home, to achieve freedom and enjoy the colorful life, the squad members defended their positions. The friendship in the war and brotherhood are also bright points in the film.
There is a wonderful line in the film: To the world, you are a soldier; to your mother, you are the whole world. If you insist that this task is not worth, from now on, live carefully, become a good person, be kind to others, and you would learn more from this film.