Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by RGA (A) on July 20, 2004 at 23:54:41

In Reply to: Most powerful "death scene" in the history of cinema, ....... posted by RC on July 20, 2004 at 22:18:11:

Saving Private Ryan takes a lot of beatings largely for the bookends right at the beginning and the scene at the end. Foreigners hate it because America is viewed as taking credit for the war - and of course there is the anti Jew and or anti-Spielberg crowd that hates it before they walk in to see it. Of course I'm from Canada and we're not represented and it didn't bother me...Speilberg is making a film about an American platoon not an allied forces platoon - silly arguments people make.

I didn't love the movie when I first saw it and I'll tell you why. The opening battle sequence wore me out - it was probably the most brutal war seqeunce and best ever filmed. After that sequence I felt the rest of the movie was rehashed war cliche.

BUT, I bought the movie on DVD and watched it again - this time around I was able to expect the opening war footage and follow the story along - and historically there is a lot of subtle shots in here to the American GOvernment of the time - the whole notion of risking a platoon to save one guy seems ridiculous if you don't know the history of the American gov't during the 1940's really through the 1950's. It is highly plausible they would have done soemthing like this for propaganda purposes. The psychological story of the language expert who is a "coward" - is he really? The Hanks character is well drawn and believable because of the fact that he's not John Wayne. After a third view the film gets better again - a few shots at the Nazis. We do get standard characitures but given the time constraints that's acceptable.

But I have to say that Schindler's List had absolutely shocking death secenes that seemed more real than any other film I've seen on the big screen. Makes The Pianist look like a cartoon. The female engineer who states that "it will take more than that" and several other sequences in the streets are brutal. The amazing thing about it is it manages not to resoprt to having to be as graphic as it could have been - the imagination can fill in the blanks and is more effective when a director does this.

Spielberg lays off sentimentality and was surprisingly ahead of some of the formost historians on the subject. He manages to keep it as hands off and surprisingly objective. He also tries to embody post war Schindler's life of feeling guilty for not having done more into a close to final sequence where he reveals that guilt that he could have traded the car for more lives. Some didn't like that scene but it was a truthful account of post war Schindler who did feel guilty that he wasted so much money and could have saved lives - that guilt turned him into a pennyless drunkard. Critics missed this writing it off to Spielberg being sentimental but it was actually a way to let the man's after war voice enter the film. Some said that Spielberg caved in and felt compelled to explain Schindler's motivations. But of course we know his motivation was based on guilt which was set-up earlier - you wonder that some of these nut job critics were even paying attention. Of course those are from the inconsequential no name critics trying to buck the established praise to make a name for themselves - their name should have moron somewhere in the middle of it.

SPR deserves a second chance - despite the little set-up and grave-yard sequence - which can be overlooked - this is one of the best war films made.