While Benjamin The Ghost Martin is invincible, Miller, with his
shaky hand, is homesick and tired. Take Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies), for
example. Upham, without a doubt, sees the war as we see it, as Speilberg sees
it, as it is. The comfort he finds in talking to others to the fear he feels
about the chaos as he asks himself, What is happening? are all reactions that an
everyday civilian would have to the war. In The Patriot we do not have that
character to relate to. Everyone is too heroic to hide. As soldiers
enthusiastically slay bad guy after bad guy we understand that they are destined
to win, but in Ryan we come to learn that you survive by mere chance. In Ryan
there is one word that accurately describes the dramatic elements and it is
gory. The bloody waves at Omaha, the sudden, messy deaths, the slow, agonizing
deaths, and the puking, crying, bleeding, gut spilling, armless, legless,
lifeless soldiers are Speilberg’s constant reminders of the inescapable
tragedies of war. Emmerich, however, has his actors die with a scream or groan
and then it’s on to the next. Unless, of course, it’s a principal that’s dying.
Then the death must be drawn out. The scenes following the battle also differ
with the movie. Once The Patriot soldiers are at their base camp it’s almost as
if the war is on pause. The atmosphere is actually cheery as the actors have
their characters enjoy time-out from The American Revolution. In Ryan we hardly
reach this giddy mood. When the soldiers are not fighting Speilberg creates a
thick atmosphere of tension. The actors subtly play their characters with the
feeling of anticipation. Unlike in The Patriot, we never feel at ease. Lastly
are the cinematic elements, which Steven Speilberg is inhumanly gifted with.
Throughout Ryan Speilberg keeps the camera on a dolly to create boom movement.
This effect makes it seem as though we are one of the soldiers walking among the
troops, which intensifies the battle scenes and keeps us on our toes throughout
the movie.
During the more mellow scenes, for instance during Ryan’s (Damon)
speech, the camera stays on a fixed base allowing us to feel less anxious. The
Patriot’s cinematography is typical. It consists of a variety of methods such
as, zoom in to close up during Gabriel’s (Heath Edgar) death, cut editing with
short duration shots during battle scenes, nothing unique. Emmerich was,
however, creative with the lighting. After tragic scenes, such as Thomas’ and
Gabriel’s death, and when we find out what Martin’s sins were, he uses blue
lighting. There is not really much depth to this idea and it is somewhat
Hollywoodish, but the symbolism works. Spielberg seemed to avoid this simple
symbolism due to its cheesiness (for lack of a better word). He did not want his
viewers to be watching a movie, he wanted them to be watching a war. That is
where Spielberg and Emmerich differ the most; their intentions. Emmerich was not
so much as interested in recreating the American Revolution as he was in
releasing a summer action movie. For an action movie The Patriot has a decent
story line, but for a historical drama it was just too shallow. However it is
harsh to judge the believability of a movie when comparing it to Saving Private
Ryan. Never have I seen a war movie so disturbing. When I see that high angle of
Omaha Beach littered with bodies, it makes me wonder what it was all for. This
is where Spielberg succeeds. By recreating World War II so realistically, his
viewers see what he saw from the beginning: the inexcusable deaths of so many
men, and the insanity of the war that they died for.
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