For my seventh entry of influential films throughout the decades, I will be discussing the culturally impactful WWII film Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg.

*Trigger warning, as I will be discussing emotionally heavy and graphic scenes that occur in the movie*

I watched this movie for the first time a couple months ago and it touched my heart in a way that few other movies have. It is the kind of film that stays with you and one that you can picture vividly no matter how much time has passed since you had viewed it.

Saving Private Ryan follows Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) and his company of seven men who are dispatched to retrieve Private James Ryan (played by Matt Damon) after his three brothers were killed in combat. The men are surrounded by the brutal realities of war while searching for Pvt. Ryan and each embark on a personal journey as they struggle to overcome the psychological trauma that comes with unfathomable violence.

The film, which premiered in 1998, is noted for its realistic depiction of battle. When it was first screened 26 years ago, both critics and war veterans cited it as the most realistic portrayal of war ever seen on film. The opening scene of the movie showing the Allied assault on Omaha beach in 1944 is among the most graphic and authentic of these scenes. The 24-minute sequence is unique among war films as it captures the brutality in a way that audiences had not seen before. I was particularly moved by Tom Hanks’ steely gaze and the absence of a musical score in the background of the scene, only adding to the uncensored horror. It does not shy away from showing wounds and the sudden deaths of soldiers who are shot by the Axis powers.

Not only does the movie depict the physical atrocities of war, but it delves into the deep psychological harm that inevitably affects soldiers after they have taken the lives of others. One of the most important scenes in the movie is when Captain Miller’s company overtakes a small German base in the middle of a field, resulting in the death of their medic, Wade. While they were merely tasked with bringing Private Ryan home, Captain Miller decides to neutralize the base so that it would not be a threat to their fellow soldiers. Afterwards, the men find the German solider who had shot Wade, and they argue over whether or not they should kill him. The fighting escalates until Captain Miller gives a moving speech about how he is an English teacher from Addley, Pennsylvania, and he says that “every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.”

Saving Private Ryan was nominated for a total of 11 Academy Awards and won 5 of them: Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Effects/Sound Effects Editing. While the film is deserving of these awards, the true impact of its story reaches beyond the material praise that is bestowed upon it. The film highlights the ethical dilemma of risking multiple lives to save one life, as is the human cost of decisions made during war.