The Anti-War Themes of Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan Anonymous 9th Grade

Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) has been heralded as one of the most brutally realistic war films to have ever been put on film. Although the film celebrates those who fought during the Second World War – and all wars more generally – at its core, it explores war's devastating and senseless nature. It presents a powerful critique against the destructive chaos of warfare while emphasizing human vulnerability, sacrifice, and the pursuit of a just cause.

The opening scene of the D-Day landings on Omaha Beach is arguably one of the most graphic and startling instances of the violence that war can do and the most poignant illustration of the anti-war sentiment that permeates the film. Spielberg presents an almost 25-minute uninterrupted sequence of utter carnage, filled with the horrifyingly graphic depiction of violence and death. Soldiers are mowed down before they even get off their landing crafts; bodies are blown apart, and the water turns red with blood. The sheer randomness of who lives and dies illustrates war's arbitrariness and senselessness. The terror, pain, and chaos displayed, with the constant cries of pain and fear, negate any possibility of glamorizing war, a poignant illustration of the famous quote,...