The A posteriori le cinema series is an opportunity to celebrate the 7e art by revisiting key titles that celebrate important anniversaries.
It is well known that Steven Spielberg began shooting films as a child, armed with a super-8 camera. One of them is called Escape to Nowhere, and is encamped on a battlefield during World War II. It was at this point one of the most successful short films of the aspiring director, then 16 years old. Decades later, Spielberg projected this “early work” to his team. The current project? Saving Private Ryan (We have to save the soldier Ryan), released 25 years ago, in July 1998. This masterpiece not only changed the way of filming, but also that of imagining the Second World War.
The film tells of the team, across France occupied by the German enemy, of a detachment of American soldiers responsible for rescuing a companion whose three brothers have been killed.
Screenwriter Robert Rodat is behind the project. One day, his spouse gave him a book devoted to the Normandy landings, which took place on June 6, 1944. Among other things, Rodat was struck by the multiple losses suffered within the same families: this is the raison d’être of the policy of the only survivor . Developed in 1942, after a sibling had been decimated during the attack on Pearl Harbor, this measure aims to protect a soldier whose rest of the family has perished in combat.
As soon as he read it, Tom Hanks sent the script to Steven Spielberg: the two men had wanted to collaborate for a long time. To increase the level of veracity, Spielberg hired Frank Darabont, director and screenwriter of The Shawshank Redemption (In the Shade of Shawshank), and Scott Frank, director and screenwriter of The Queen’s Gambit (The lady’s game), for rewrites that would take account of testimonials from veterans.
Son of a veteran, Steven Spielberg listened with fascination, during his childhood, to the memories of his father linked to the conflict of 1939-1945: Saving Private Ryan is also dedicated to him.
The landing sequence
This concern for historical truth is striking during the sequence of the landing at Omaha Beach, which occurs towards the beginning of the film, and which lasts 25 minutes. Never had the horror of the battlefield been evoked so viscerally.
A lifelong fan of war films, Spielberg nonetheless crafted a radically different vision for his film. In the collection Steven Spielberg. interviewby Lester D. Friedman and Brent Notbohm, the filmmaker explained in 2000: “On Private Ryan, I’ve tried to take the opposite approach of almost every one of my favorite WWII movies. Films made during the war were never really concerned with being realistic, but rather with extolling the virtues of winning and sacrificing oneself on the altar of freedom. […] I love those movies, but I think Vietnam inspired people of my generation to tell the truth about the war without glorifying it. As a result, I took a much tougher approach to telling this specific story. »
By way of inspiration, Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kamiński, director of photography of Schindler’s List (Schindler’s List), studied documentaries made during the Second World War. To the magazine American Cinematographer, Kamiński confided in 1998: “We wanted to create the illusion that there were several combat cameramen landing with the troops in Normandy. »
With this in mind, the cinematographer used a variety of older lenses from which he had the protective coating removed: “The contrast became much duller. Without the coatings, light enters the lens and then bounces around it, so the image becomes a little hazy, but still sharp. »
We played with the shutters, we developed artisanal techniques to shake the cameras… The sequence required four weeks of shooting, 1,500 extras and a budget of 12 million US dollars (the film cost 65 in total).
However, even before shooting what was one of the most ambitious sequences of his illustrious career, Spielberg took the risky step of putting himself in danger. As Lester D. Friedman and Brent Notbohm note in their collection: “Technically, Spielberg recognizes that his immense gifts for visual narratives, as well as his desire to control every aspect of filming, can hinder the instinctive flow of images from his imagination. In his most personal projects — AND, Schindler’s Listthe Omaha Beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan—he willingly abandons his technical cut-outs [story-boards] elaborate scene to scene and allows more improvisation to permeate his staging. »
Further, Friedman and Notbohm summarize: “Spielberg ‘deglamorizes’ the technology and shoots the chaotic Omaha Beach sequence from the terrified point of view of the private soldier, giving this segment an authenticity not found in any other feature film. Hollywood warfare. »
Of authority and humanity
All shades of authority and humanity in the role of Captain Miller, Tom Hanks is formidable. Plagued by post-traumatic shock syndrome, Miller must carry out this perilous mission while maintaining the morale and esprit de corps of his troops.
Indeed, some resent the idea of risking the lives of many in the name of the life of one.
The late Tom Sizemore is memorable as Horvath, Miller’s friend and aide. Same for Vin Diesel, in that of the brave but tragic Caparzo. And of course there’s Matt Damon, aka Private Ryan.
Interestingly, Spielberg wanted a little-known actor to play James Francis Ryan. During a visit to the set of Good Will Hunting (The Fate of Will Hunting), friend Robin Williams introduced him to the young actor-screenwriter…
When it was released at the end of 1997, Gus Van Sant’s film enjoyed the success that we know, so much so that Steven Spielberg found himself despite himself with one more star in the credits of his in the summer of 1998.
Vast legacy
In the running for eleven Oscars, SavingPrivate Ryan won five, including Best Director and Cinematographer. The Best Picture Oscar eluded him and went, in what is considered one of the “worst” wins in Oscar history, to Shakespeare in Love (Shakespeare and Juliet).
The legacy of Saving Private Ryan will have revealed itself, to put it mildly, more importantly. In the book Citizen SpielbergLester D. Friedman asserts: “Saving Private Ryan reshapes national consciousness about World War II by relating historical events from a contemporary perspective, [le film] functioning as both a commemoration of these events and a broader discourse on history. »
Nevertheless, as soon as the film is mentioned, it is the landing sequence that we think of again. With good reason, since it is one of those pieces of innovative cinematographic bravery of which we can say that there was a before and an after.
Of Black Hawk Down (The fall of the Black Falcon) To The Suicide Squad (The squadron suicide) Passing by Edge of Tomorrow (One day without tomorrow) And Dunkirk (Dunkirk), many productions have been inspired by it. In his autobiographical The Fabelmans (The Fabelmans), Spielberg himself came back to it… during the passage dedicated to the shooting of his short film Escape to Nowhere.
The film Saving Private Ryan is offered in VsD on most platforms.