Spielberg and his persuasive intention; a political film Saving private Ryan
American cinema has always been American propaganda and its filmographic industry has turned the realistic problem into spectacular facts in order to be filmed for a powerful industry.
I would like to write about a popular film, Saving private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1998. The realism and a marvellous photography allow us to imagine the hardness of surviving in those moments when Europe suffered from the Nazi threat.
It is right that film criticism was divided to analyze the quality of film, but until then no director had made such a credible recreation of Normandy landings. Serenity and overcoming are values that this film communicates for us to be aware of our ability to solve our personal difficulties. When you finished of watching this film, you are able to say yourself: “It is hard to know how much those soldiers suffered for our European democracies”.
Some war scenes impress us even more by their rawness and cruelty, but Spielberg only tries to express “objectively” what happened in that terrible war against the Nazi troops. The problem in these war films is the objectivity and an intelligent tendency of expressing favoritism towards Americans.
At this point, I want to emphasize, for example, the personality of the Rangers Captain, John H. Miller, who symbolizes an exterminating angel who makes important decisions in order to save the mission, looking for a young soldier, Ryan. John H. Miller is played by Tom Hanks. Spielberg needed to find an actor who had a friendly and serene face. Because behind Tom Hanks and all the plot, there is a manipulative intention, which is transmitting the next message: United States is a kind of divine rescuer.
Historically, it seems that, if United States had not taken part in this war, finally German troops would have finally invaded Russia. I am not going to question this last assertion. However this film, such as other works, manages to persuade us that the American troops are actually the only solution of critical geopolitical problems in the world. Hollywood studios are still the best way of spreading propaganda through attractive epic films. For this reason, spectators must differentiate between enjoying a historic film from recognising policital values, which are actually implied in a lot of unsolvable wars, without forgetting the economical reasons which are behind these confllicts.
American cinema has always been American propaganda and its filmographic industry has turned the realistic problem into spectacular facts in order to be filmed for a powerful industry. Maybe the beauty and intrigue of these films, such as Save Private Ryan, reside in their persuasive intention during this last century.
