BY AKIKO NAKAGAWA

Only half a century ago, many young men in the world were forced to go to war, and there they shed a lot of blood and were killed. Steven Spielberg, who directed the film ﾒSaving Private Ryanﾓ, took the view point of young soldiers who fought on the front line, and he expressed the ugliness, the cruelty and the absurdity of war, and the preciousness of life to those who donﾕt know much of war.
The assault on the beaches of Normandy is accepted as a successful invasion. It was, however, a completely failed strategy for the landing and the invasion on Omaha beach. The movie starts from the shocking scene at Omaha beach, which the New York Post expressed as, ﾒSavagely beautiful and savagely true.ﾓ
As soon as American soldiers got off the landing crafts, German soldiers shot machine guns at them. They couldnﾕt flee from the bullets which came flying at them. Even when they dove into the sea, bullets would find them. The sea was stained deep red with blood in only a matter of moments. On the beach, there was a soldier staggering and looking for one of his arms, another who looked desperate while holding his internal organs in his hands, and one who shouted ﾒmama...mama...ﾓ. On such a fierce battlefield it was just luck that decided their fate.
Steven Spielberg utilized hand-held cameras to make the battle scene at Omaha beach, where there were 2,500 casualties. Cameras approach as close as they possibly can, and become the soldierﾕs eyes. Scenes were shot crawling on the ground, diving into the sea, and running about the beach. Sometimes the soldierﾕs blood splashed onto the camera. These cameras describe the terror of the battlefield so realistically that the audience would like to turn their eyes away.
Captain John Miller, who survived this battle, was given a special mission by the commanders of the army. It was to save Private James Ryan who had already lost three brothers in the war. Then, a squad of eight men, led by Miller, was organized.
The nation which suddenly lost three of the four Ryan brothers in the war decided to risk eight menﾕs lives by sending them into a hostile area with the duty to find James Ryan, who was the youngest of the Ryan brothers, and bring him home alive. However, is there any justice in such a duty?
Surely there is a consideration to the Ryan family from the US military. How could they be healed if they lost all of their sons because of the war. Even if the President met them, nothing he could say would ever help heal their pain. But, for the eight men, Ryan is just a soldier who they have never heard of.
If the nation treasures all the soldiers in the battlefield, we can understand this duty. However, the soldiers were treated as expendables by the Army. This duty risks eight lives for only one. The eight men called this duty ﾒFUBARﾓ (F…ed Up Beyond All Recognition). However, when we think carefully, we will realize that, in war, there is no duty that we can understand.
As a result, six of the eight men sacrificed their lives for this duty. Before he died Captain Miller said, ﾒEarn this...earn this...,ﾓ to Ryan. Maybe Miller believed in a peaceful future when the war had finished. So he hoped Ryan would live a life worthy of their deaths. As Miller believed in Ryanﾕs future and in a future peace, he could fulfill his duty splendidly, and be able to take pride in it. Their deaths are the start of peace that continues today.
The final scene of this film is the Stars and Stripes fluttering through the sunlight. Apparently it can be seen as a symbol of glory. However, we can feel the images of blood and mud on the national flag that was tinged with a sepia tone. The war for liberty and independence that the Stars and Stripes represents is by no means fair, and the lives sacrificed in it must not be for nothing. Steven Spielberg is trying to express those meanings in the last scene.
Still now there are a lot of people all over the world who are suffering from the aftereffects of the war and canﾕt heal their wounds. We cannot heal them, either. In the war, those who fought earnestly hoped just for peace and they fought so that we might survive. We, the survivors, cannot help hoping that the peace continues forever. Also, it is our responsibility and atonement to the soldiers who went to the battlefield that we wonﾕt make the same mistake twice.