So Emotianal 😭😭😭 Saving Private Ryan (1998) REACTION
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If you cannot understand or relate to what those men went through... good.
That's why they went through it. So you'd never have to.
Underrated comment. Thank you. Spot on.
My dad said this to me, he fought in Vietnam. I asked him once why he went. I said “You could’ve gone to Canada or somewhere and just not gone, why’d you go?” he looked me dead in the eye and “I went so you wouldn’t have to.” That always stuck with me, and he was right.
The ladies are from Serbia. I'm sure they have their own perspective to what happened there, what their parents, their great grand-parents thought of it. They just don't wanna reminisce or invite war-related negative energies which is understandable.
@@justhereforkicks8208 we didn’t even with that war, so the whole conflict ended up being pointless
If the next generation can not relate to what those men went through, we are f$cked. No wonder the young generation is willing to give up their freedom so quickly.
Steven Spielberg made this movie for his father, and Schindler’s List was for his mother.
Unbeatable movies till this day
Really?
Quite the dedications! Shit, I guess a Hallmark card just wasn't gonna cut it.
It was actually dedicated to the Niland brothers aka the real Ryan brothers
He directed The Colored Purple for black Americans as well
The last moments of Wade, calling for his mother, gets me every single time. There is no shame to get emotional about this.
A mother's love.
@@Hootix I’ve never wanted to hug my mommy more in my life after I watched this.
there is not shame to get emotional thats it !😉
That’s the guys name? Poor guy.
Hardest part of the movie to watch, for me. Saw one of my closest friends die in just this same way. Still hurts, after all these years.
My grandfather never spoke of World War 2. I remember showing him this movie when it came out and he looked very sad. All he said was, it is very realistic. Regards from New Zealand.
My dad was in the Korean War and also never talked about it. The odd thing is that I was on a backpacking trip in 1990 in New Zealand for several weeks. I bumped into an older couple in Greymouth and the guy recognized my name. He asked if I had a relative in the Canadian military medical corps and I told him my dad had been; he had the same name as me. Turned out the guy had served with him in Korea and hadn't seen him since. Small world.
@@jimgore1278 That's an incredible meeting! New Zealand sent Kayforce, a mix of field artillery and a transport squadron.
@@aj897 I can't imagine the hell that soldiers went through in that jungle. In 1968 New Zealand sent 1st Ranger Squadron SAS and was teamed up with the Australian SAS. New Zealand SAS Rangers left in 71.
God bless your grandfather. He is my hero. Treasure him End Time Dreams.
Both of my grandfathers served in ww2. They were black Americans from the segregated south. Imagine serving in a war were you weren't even respected as a human being in your own country! They were not allowing blacks or non whites to fight at first. They were sent to help with transport, stocking, cooking etc... But when the soldiers were being slaughtered the US changed their minds. I am They came back alive. They never spoke of it. I ust saw military pictures of them in uniform. Both ended up retired in Santa Monica Beach California with 20 children between the two. They didn't know of each other until my parents had me 😃
I had a Great Uncle who served in the 101st Airborne during WWII. He was the sole survivor of his squad on two separate occasions during the Battle for Bastogne (The Battle of The Bulge). He lived and came home, but he was never the same again. He drank heavily to cope with what he saw and did. They didn't know much about PTSD in those days. Rest in Peace, Howard.
My father was in Patton's 3rd army (Cannoneer 687thFAB) .He was a part of the assisting at Bastogne... We were watching a movie showing the Bastogne and he laughed....They showed guys standing and aiming while shooting....He said in real life both sides were freezing and in the bottom of shell craters firing over their heads blindly....If it wasnt for the US 8th army air corps and good weather the thing might have ended differently......
My Grandpa Jim served in the 82nd Airborne. He arrived in Normandy 4 days after D-Day. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I would sit with him for hours as he told me war stories...thinking back now though the stories were always told "documentary style" or as if he was a narator. I don't think he liked to talk about it with 1st person detail....and he NEVER talking about killing he always avoided those questions I had as a kid. He rarely drank, and I personally never saw him show anything like PTSD. He came home with 2 purple hearts and a bronze star. Lived to be 89 years old. RIP Papa Jim.
@@garychambers6848 Yes I learned through my Grandpa (82nd AB) that War "heroes" don't really exist...at least not how civilians imagine. Every single man on the battlefield is just as scared as anybody would be...and you NEVER get used to being shot at. He fought in the Bulge and he always said the most important thing during that time was DRY SOCKS!!!
@@lazyblazer Yea dad brought back a lot of "stuff". From a Walther P38 to German daggers (SA + Hatchet faced dress dagger)...To a lot of pictures of the last place he was assigned....A rat's nest called Buchenwald ....My mother made him burn all of those pictures......He got busy and raised a family and lived to 85....The men back then were tough as nails tho......
@@garychambers6848 Wow that's amazing...I still have Papa's mess kit and helmet along with a few other pieces of gear. I remember one story that was actually pretty funny...There was a man in his company named Earl Buttermore, Pa said he was a tiny man with a head the size of your fist. Whenever he would run his helmet would bob and wobble all over haha. Anyways they were ambushed in an Apple orchid and ol' Earl thought it would be a good idea to climb to the top of one of them apple trees and wait out the battle....and that's exactly what he did!!!! But yes, they definitely don't make em like that anymore...my Papa was a tough, tough man with a gentle soul. I remember him turning perfect cartwheels in his early 70's.
The part that really got me was Wade's death. This man was the epitome of compassion. He served in the war, but with no weapon, he tried making friends with Upham when no one else did, he took it upon himself to take the letter to rewrite it for Caparzo's father, he went in the assault of the machine guns nest with no firearm even maybe when he didn't have to. This man so strongly believed in his oath to care for the wounded that not once did he fire a single shot but instead was always trying to patch someone up even if it meant giving up his own safety or what flag they served. This man was selfless and honorable perhaps following in the footsteps of his nurse mother and the fact that he died the way he did, that scene absolutely gets me every time. God bless who ever has served or is serving. If you guys haven't already watched it.
I recommend Black Hawk Down. It was all based on true events and 2 service members received the Medal of Honor, the highest military award.
Hacksaw ridge would be another good one
Yeah, Wade's death was a hard one to watch. This whole movie was great.
They had a unique point about that scene, they killed Willie's friends too.
Also The Outpost...I saw both movies. Both were amazing... But the outpost had far fewer men surviving against even greater odds. Two men also received the medal of honor. 50 completely surrounded men defend against 100s... It was the most decorated conflict of the Afghan war... And most decorated in 50 years.
Any of the older war movies are great to watch. Full metal jacket. This list could go on an on.
Hurtlocker
We were soldiers
The deer hunter *1978 movie
I think most reactors forget... in the beginning, he's not just visiting the Captain, but also where two of his brothers died.
So true. Thank you for pointing this out.
3 brothers
@@johnjacomb2645 the third died in New Guinea a week before the landings
@@Aryan-ck9lv so? The captain didn't die at the same time or place as any of them
@@johnjacomb2645
The Normandy American Cemetery holds the graves of most if not all that died during the liberation of France, which would also mean Captain Miller and the others would also be buried there
“Earn this. Earn it.” This is how EVERYONE should live. Live life like someone died to allow you to live. Because they did. Make the best of it with the short time we have.
Couldn't have said it better.
It saddens me when younger people don't understand what happened in times of history such as this.
Lest We Forget.
@@pauldryburgh6346 I kinda hit it. More like, live with the freedoms that you otherwise wouldn’t have as the result one someone dying to let you live. Maybe that’s better.
@@mikeaninger7388 The sentiment, no matter how worded, remains the same my friend.
I hate to make sweeping accusations or generalisations but with regards to current society (I'm in Scotland, not aware from where you hail chap), but this "long peace" in which recent generations have grown without threat or necessitous battle has been detrimental in the seeking or creation of non essential battles/conflict.
Whether political, intersectional,ism/ist/ic (tribalism which is of course inherent and hard wired in our evolution) it displays a lack of historical understanding, logic and genuine goodness by those who claim to be liberal and progressive whilst demonstrating the actions of totalitarianism and fascism.
Baffling to say the least, despair to be honest.
I hate to tell you this, but Someone did.
@@mikeaninger7388 hey, get with the times; it's 2021... we don't want freedom, we want safety.
I get the feeling you ladies have no clue what each side was fighting for.
Pessoas modernas vivendo em um mundo de paz ilusoria e desinformaçao. Um mundo onde ninguem praticamente conhece os horrores de uma guerra mundial. Apenas a geraçao dos herois e ate mesmo a geraçao dos alemaes entende oque foi esse horror
I had the same feeling. I didn't understand that they didn't understand.
They're from eastern Europe, their history of WWll would be way different. How much do you know about the battle for Leningrad? Or the Germans invasion of Ukraine? For them not to understand the allied invasion of France is quite understandable.
They must do because they have watched Schindler's list maybe they watched it.
@@farmerbill6855 not really. For them, the allied invasion of Normandy would’ve been equally as important as it would’ve pulled German focus away from Romania and the East.
I understand that you don't walk away from a movie like this feeling "good", but these films are important. Everyone knows war is horrible. But that's a really simple, easy thing to say. You don't fully understand how horrible it is, and even a movie like this won't help you understand. But the closer we get to understanding, the better we become. And you both showed how much heart you have. Viki cried more than Michelle, and Michelle was empathetic enough to even consider that it's horrible whether you were on the American or German side.
Right Tyler... and I highly doubt it was Steven Spielberg's intention for anyone to leave the theater with a good feeling after watching this film. There is nothing glorious, happy, or joyful about war because it is hell. Spielberg captured that magnificently in this film and like you pretty much said a person cannot completely comprehend the hell that war is unless they have experienced it firsthand like the soldiers portrayed in this film and real soldiers.
Come on men. USA movies just glorifies themselves and they always shows germans as demons when they were just humans with families following orders from evil men. Also USA did the same. Do you think Truman was an angel? He was a fking genocide.
Imagine having to tread a certain amount of water wearing heavy gear, making it across a beach with barbed wire, booby traps and land mines, if you made it that far had to climb a cliff with heavy gear and if you made it up having to have enough energy to fight off Germans still and maybe hand to hand combat. I've seen interviews with veterans who were there and all of them in so many words said it was literally hell on earth. I had an uncle that stormed one of the beaches on D day, just not sure which one. Nevermind movies about the justice league or the marvel characters these soldiers were real life superheros imo.
I know from experience, swimming in your fatigues and boots with an M-16 is damn hard. Add 70 lbs. of gear....
Captain America and Superman aren't just comic book characters... they are/were actual Heroes for the Brave Men that served during WWII. Almost everyone read them or knew a lot about them, and used them for courage and strength and the brutal mindset to get their job done. Don't look down on something you might consider childish, because it could very well be that something that grants someone the drive and thrive toward being a Hero and sacrificing themselves for the Greater Good.
I read a book way back about the American civil war. it tolt how a regiment with many soldiers who fought for 3 years and surving 2 MAJOR battles (Im again blanking on the names). The men who had joined 3 years prior only had 28 days left til the end of their tour and wouldnt went home. Well they were forced to fight and battle where they all knew the confederates had the upper hand and they were sure it was a suicide mission, so much so that they all wrote their names, who their relatives were and then pinned it to their backs. When the order was given they sprang out of their trenches and were slaughtered. Imagine living so long, surviving somany battles just to be led to slaughter a month before you get to go home and see ur family all because of inept and careless higher ups
You forget the bullets they had to get through
Superman was part of the WW2... they sent comic books to the soldiers in the front
Dog tags were invented during the U.S. civil war by the soldiers themselves to alert authorities that they had died during battle. This would allow the military the opportuinty to tell their families they had passed and gvie them some closure. Now the practice has evolved and become more refined, but it still serves the same purpose nearly 150 years later.
correction: Confederate War. The US has never had a civil war in its entire history.
@@Hiraghm Good correction
@@Hiraghm It was a civil war by definition, in that everyone belonged to the same country when the violence began e.g. Bleeding Kansas, the fighting in Missouri, etc. If you're calling Fort Sumter the beginning, then you have to call it a revolution, a rebellion or something of the like. At the end of the day, the first state to secede and the state housing the capital both ratified the US Constitution. They participated in and acknowledged the authority of the federal government. Secession may indeed have been constitutional but there went South Carolina, attacking and seizing federal territory. There went Lee, invading Pennsylvania.
@@Hiraghm wrong!
@Hiraghm @K2da _G What nonsense are you two talking about? A civil war is a war fought between citizens of the same country, which is exactly what it was.
20 miles is roughly 32 kilometers. The transpoet planes carrying the paratroopers were shot at by the Germans. They flew too high and fast for a proper parachute drop. Damaged planes had men jump out before the planes exploded. It was a real mess.
Today, there are few people left who fought in World War II. But when the movie came out, there were millions. Perhaps 10% of those in the theater I was in served in World War II. At least three of them walked out in the first 30 minutes, overcome with emotion.
My father had been a partisan as a child during the war. He didn't say much about it, except to explain that the reality of using Molotov cocktails was worse than what the movie showed. (Molotov cocktails our bottles full of gasoline or other flammable liquid with a burning wick attached that are thrown onto vehicles to catch them and the men inside on fire.) But I also remember waking up late at night and seeing him still awake, haunted by memories.
This was an amazing movie, but not an easy one to watch or rewatch.
"Shit at by the Germans" I think you meant "Shot at", but honestly, it works either way, lol.
The problem wasn't the anti-aircraft fire (which was fairly weak) or that they flew too high, it was much more simple. It was night. Without the benefit of modern navigational tools it's a wonder the jump went as good as it did.
there are 25 US military cemeteries in foreign nations..
16 are in France, more Americans have died on French soil than any other nation
But nobody made a bigger sacrifice than the russians and the chinese with the highest casualties of all
@@lightup6751 what's the point of saying that?
@@arthurjse7779 that the sacrifices from everyone matter? and that we should mention and thank all allied?
how this escapes your comprehension is a bit irritating to be honest
@@lightup6751 it was Germans tht made there deaths so high so its not a greater sacrifice
@@lightup6751 Russia got what it deserved from Germany. Russia started the war in Poland and Finland then switched sides halfway through the war when the Germans were slaughtering them wholesale. The USA and its allies wasted too many men and resources supporting those backstabbing communists when they shouldve been supporting Germany and Japan. No Russia and no china means no Korean war, and no Vietnam war, no soviet afghan war, no mujahadeen, no war on terror, and most importantly no more communists
This movie is so full of powerful moments. Every time I watch the scene where the mom sits down on the porch after seeing the priest get out of the car, I lose it.
So do I and I was a soldier.
my great grandmother lived that when she learned of her son vincent dying at the battle of the bulge.
Then being told that not 1 or 2 but 3 of her sons died in battle with the 4 one lost
"Good men sleep peacefully in their beds cause rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf" - George Orwell
"All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing"
"I'm not anti-war,.I'm pro peace" - Ghandi
That first quote never sat right with me at all. The only reason the good men need the rough men to fight for them is because there are other rough men who want to kill them... Clearly meant to imply that people who are unwilling to kill can only live because there are others who are willing. That's like arguing guns are good because it's the only way to defend yourself against people with guns.
@@Arbaaltheundefeated but that's reality, the only thing stopping a bad guy with a gun from killing good people with a gun is a good guy with a gun, tell me I'm wrong
@@Brkn-fq4zn You're wrong
@@Arbaaltheundefeated damn, you got me
@@Arbaaltheundefeated no that's reality...we live in a fallen world...you can't trust man to do the right thing
My great grand uncles were only 19 years old when they fought this war, their Mother was really devastated when she found out her two sons had to serve, she cried her heart out for days & they’re father was in stunned shock just couldn’t talk. They were enlisted into the 28th Maori Battalion Charlie company(NZ ARMY) Who were serving in Four Countries El Alamein Egypt 🇪🇬, Italy 🇮🇹, Crete Greece 🇬🇷, and finally Germany 🇩🇪.
Sadly they were both K.I.A 😔 😞
One passed away in Italy 🇮🇹, one passed away in Germany 🇩🇪. And still to this day they are still buried in European memorial grounds.
Thank you both for your endurance and compassion in watching this harrowing film.
Sadly, so many young people turn away from the reality of war, but it is vital to truly understand how awful it is not just for the soldiers, but for their families, and in that war, also for freedom and democracy.
I'm afraid that today, the millions of very ordinary but brave men who sacrificed their lives in this very brutal way are now being hounded and attacked by the very people they saved from totalitarian regimes.
These men didn't want to fight and die but they knew that they had to for the sake of future generations.
Thank you again for taking the time and consideration to endure the film because you can't truly understand the sacrifice unless you see it.
I am an American combat veteran ( Vietnam ) You can not possibly know the good you have just done. Thank you for this and God bless you both
?
I still remember the terrible suspense, dread & shock I felt in theaters watching that Dday scene.
Me too... I was 14 at the time
@@jahrolo I was 16.
Same, I was 12
That scene is also very similar to what the Australian and New Zealand troops faced on the beaches of Gallipoli in world war 1 in turkey
The one on the left watched this already
Ladies it’s good you watched it. It’s important for young people to see that freedom isn’t free. It comes because of the men and women who were willing to put their lives on the line to get it
After Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List you both need a lighthearted comedy.
I recommend Macgruber!
But Schindlers list is a comedy
Jojo Rabbit
When he's collecting the soil in the tin marked "France" the other marked Italy and Africa indicate that he'd been fighting since 1942 landing in North Africa. This squad of people is all that remains of a company of 100+ soldiers, my hands would shake as well.
What exactly is the issue the one with blue hair is having? Spent most of the film rolling her eyes and looking utterly confused what she was watching. I am assuming this is not the first time in her life she has heard anything about WWII, but it certainly came off that way.
Clueless about history like so many of her age. If she understood what each side was fighting for, maybe she’d be more empathetic. .And understand that she wouldn’t be sitting there reviewing movies today, if the Allies had lost.
@@michaelsegriff3362 eh the Nazi Empire would have fallen either way. Every empire does.
@@lightup6751 Glad you can be so certain. When do you think China will fall?
@@michaelsegriff3362
china? Idk about you but Im more concerned about the country dropping bombs on civilian cities in 7 countries for the past 20 years. when that will end? who knows
@@lightup6751 Don’t worry about it. According to you, all regimes fall, so I guess you’ll have to wait it out.
My grandmother's 4 brother's were sent all over the world when they went to fight in ww2. As we're New Zealander's we fought on the British side, referred to as ANZAC's(Australia New Zealand Army Corp).
All four of my great-uncles came back home but were never the same, all were severely effected by the war, 2 became raging alcoholic's, 2 were physically damaged & all were negatively/mentally effected in one way or another. My dad was 9 yrs old when ww2 finished but his Dad was a prisoner of war here in NZ because he was Italian, so it goes to show how much war effects all people, no matter if they're actively fighting in one or not.
It's all very sad & it's the last thing I would ever want to occur on this planet ever again, we must't forget the past or as they say, we'll be doomed to repeat it & today we have the power to wipe ourselves out completely & that is plain scary!
As an American Veteran it makes my heart proud to see you so emotionally touched by the American sacrifices of WW2
My Dad was there. ...when i watched in theater, i watched a few old timers get up and leave, visibly upset.
Glad I didn't I didn't take my grandfather then. He wasn't even watching Band of Brothers I taped for him when he was like 86 or something.
Love seeing Michelle try super hard to not cry haha
that was probably the only real good vs evil war fought in modern times. Not fought over ideology, religion or land but stopping an evil empire doing unspeakable things to so many innocent people. There is times when war is necessary and unavoidable.
True. That's exactly why it's referred to as "The Last Great War."
@@akashenk No other animal kills for the pleasure of killing & slaughtering over 6 million people isn't survival of the fittest.
@@twoheart7813 but it is. The Jews had power in high social status, tons of influence and handle on the economy. Of course these were unforgivable atrocities but Hitler using his twisted ideology was survival of the fittest.
The US would have never intervened if it wouldnt be for Hitlers world domination.
Also, the Nazi party was pure evil. But the Germans fighting at that beach were fighting for their country and not for the holocaust. There is a difference between soldiers, civilians and the government. Cant paint them all with the same brush.
The Axis had to fall. And the sacrifices made by the Allies were heroic. But the reason they went wasnt to free the Jews but to stop the Nazis because they were a threat to the US.
USA sending TWO atomic bombs to inocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagazaki was a "good" action??? You so dumb.
They don't understand? Strange that anybody can say that in 2021, knowing what was happening in Europe at that time.
Yeah. Not much common sense on display by these two.
Especially the young lady on the left, who obviously doesn’t understand the deeper meaning of “earn it.” She’s slightly cold, distracted at times and somewhat clueless about what everyone was fighting for.
@Robo Redneck Ignorance of formative events in history leaves me stupefied. WTF do they teach in schools today? That’s rhetorical. It’s a lot of sh**
Uh, there not our schools they attended.
All of these reaction videos are literally the same clip in every CZcams video of this movie. Not sure why or how, but the woman on the right said "remember, this is the beggining just like in the end"....I thought the lady in blue never saw the movie!!!
When I first saw this film, there was a group of World War II veterans in the audience (along with actor Mickey Rooney). Needless to say they were all moved and cried, saying it captured the true feeling of how it was to be there.
If you ever get to meet an Allied WWII veteran, thank them for their sacrifice. Every year they are less and less of them. Imagine our world had they not succeeded. 🙏🏼
There arent many left nowadays 😢😢😢💔
I think you should thank Russian grandpas more than anyone to be honest. The US didnt save the world alone
@@lightup6751 only a fucking traitor would spew that fascist swill. The Russians were Hitlers buddies until he betrayed them.
@@MCorner
lmao you think the US were the heroes of WWII? thats hilarious. what difference does it make what side the russians were on. without these men you wouldnt be here, period. without the russians nazi germany wouldnt have been defeated and thats a fact acknowledged by historians more educated on the matter than you and me.
but sure, call others a traitor for not being a delusional patriot. the US wasnt interested in WWII until attacked themselves.
we need to thank the US soldier as much as the Russians. unless you brain washed and only capable of seeing things one way of course
@@lightup6751 why should the USA be thankful for the soviets? They attacked Poland and Finland and started ww2 and not to mention the USA aided and funded the allies including the soviets only to be stabbed in the back by the soviets after Germany surrendered. Germany was doing the USA a favor in the long run...20 million less communists for America to deal with
That grave where older Ryan visited is the real Miller. Both Spielberg and Hanks used the name of Miller in the screenplay
I've heard that jokers real name in full metal jacket was the name of the first American casualty in Vietnam, I'd have to watch it again but I think it shows his name on his shirt in one of the marches during basic. Never knew that about miller though, nice to know
The guys shot the two Czech's who surrendered because after suffering all that stress and emotion, you don't really want to show mercy to the people who shot and killed all your friends and brothers-in-arms. But they also didn't know that those two Czech soldiers had been forced to fight for the Germans.
Those are Germans
@@MCorner They are speaking Czech, they are Czechs impressed into German service
That's war, both sides are killing each other. Shooting surrendering soldiers only leads to the enemy being hesitant to surrender which results in the enemy fighting to the death and killing more of your friends.
So by killing surrendering enemy, you are in effect killing your brothers.
Also, Speilberg wanted to show that war atrocities happened on both sides.
@@genesmolko8113 They aren't speaking Czech, at least in the versions I've seen.
You girls definitely need to watch Hacksaw Ridge after this. That movie will blow your mind.
czcams.com/video/qysvnuSHQro/video.html
And to think they had to tone down Desmond's actions due to it being believed to be too unrealistic for audiences to think it was real.
I served as an Army Infantry
(Grunt) Sergeant. As a 19-year-old, African American Grunt Private, during the period December 1983-December 1984. I earned my Combat Infantryman Badge for my service inside the Korean DMZ. Essentially, there's no place to run or to hide while engaged in a combat mission. So, you fight to win. We (Grunts) never quit on our brothers, and we never leave our brothers behind. Your emotions and commentary touched my heart. I often wonder if my experiences and service made a difference. South Korea remains free, so I'm thankful. Unfortunately, very nice guys are hurt and are lost to war. This movie demonstrates how brutal and senseless war has always been. I would do it all again and make the same sacrifices.
Wasn't the Korean war in the 50's? Didn't think anything happened there in the 80's
My Great Uncle was at Normandy. He's at the cemetery in Saint-André-de-Briouze in France. This film meant a lot.
Respect!
@@hongjiezhou3691 I wish I could have known him. He volunteered to fly an unarmed Mustang over France as a photo recon pilot (the previous pilot died). When his tour was up, he re-volunteered for the same dangerous job...he wrote that he couldn't live with the idea of his replacement dying. He was shot down a killed a few weeks later.
Some of my family were able to go to France and visit the gravesite for the 70th anniversary. They met the French family who take care of his grave, celebrates an annual mass for him, etc. I did not know this, but every foreign soldier that has died for France is adopted by a French family, and they take care of the grave and that soldier's memory. They consider it a great honor.
Oh, and the French government paid for everything, out of respect. It was very moving.
8:17 Your generation has suffered nothing, and the sacrifice of those people during the 20th century made the peace that we enjoy today. But we are losing it because people are avoiding all responsibility. I use to think that we have evolved, but we didn't, and we will repeat all of this because of the irresponsibility of the younger generations. "Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times"
I think its ironic that the Russians were the biggest reason the Germans and Japanese fell yet they never are mentioned by the West
@@lightup6751 True... You have "Enemy at the gates"... great movie also. There has been a lot of suffering on both sides. But you know.... Russia is not all about freedom.... could be that
@@leonelsilveiro5761 but the US is? the US committed war crimes too and never was about freedom but self interest.
its mostly anti russia and communism propaganda.
there is 20 times more russian soldiers that died than americans. they put down a far bigger sacrifice and were the reason the nazis fell
@@lightup6751 Many more Russians died because of Stalin. Please put your ideas in order before we enter WW3. The US is not perfect, but Russia is much further away from being the free world
@@leonelsilveiro5761
What are you talking about?
Why are you trying to discredit the sacrifice Russian soldiers made? There is 24 million people who lost their lives. Of course Stalin was horrible sending out everything. But it doesnt change the fact that Russia was the primary reason the Nazi Germany was pushed back.
Why bring in whataboutism. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being grateful to the men who laid down their lives to stop tyranny. Americans and Russians alike.
The great thing is almost identical to the story of Sgt Fritz Nieland. Except he couldn't refuse orders so he was forced to leave, but best of all one of his brothers was actually alive for a while in a POW camp, and was reunited with his family some years later. TRULY EPIC TALE!
I apreciate you feeling bad for the soldiers on BOTH sides. I am in Normandy right now. The closest war cemetaries where I am are a Canadian one and a Polish one. Both are very well maintained, they are actually better maintained than any other place I can think of.
I remember visiting a German war cemetery on a battlefield tour when I was in the British Army. I was struck with how beautiful and somber the German headstones were. In contrast to how the allied war graves are pale marble, the German graves were almost black.
I think its a sign of true empathy when you give up ties to one or the other and see both as tragedies. Everyone suffers in war.
This was a war that was Good verses Evil ,There was only one good side.. The Bad had to be Purged
@@fannybuster Nazi ideology was Evil.
The atrocities committed by the Nazis was Evil.
The average German wasn’t evil, they were just wrong.
There’s a big difference between being wrong and being evil.
Until the world recognizes what evil is and how everyone has an individual choices as to the efforts they pursue and join things will never be solved. Evil is very easy to figure out, history when taught truthfully will make it very clear. Anyone including civilians on the other side deserved the aerial bombing they got, its not even close as to how our side treated civilians and POW's. There should be zero sympathy for the other side, let God sort it out, not for us to figure out.
When the D-Day landings started the first men out had over 500 yards ( 5 Soccer fields ) in length to cover while under fire. We cannot imagine today that kind of horror.
The civilian cities in 7 countries the US bombed can. They living it. Crazy how times change
Thank you girls for watching this. Now you know. We owe so much to those that gave their lives for us. You did very well. God Bless
This story was inspired by a true story: in 1942 off the coast of AK, 5 brothers (Sullivans,) were on a ship. The ship was sunk by the Japanese and all brothers died
My great uncle charlie served in WWII. I talked to my grandpa (his brother) about him. He said charlie was drafted, left the farm, and came back after infantry basic training. When he came back he cried with the family before he left to head to europe. My grandpa still remembered that.
He was killed about a year later somewhere along the french/belgian border in later 1944.
My Grandad was at sword beach luckily he lived to tell the tale.... I was playing DayZ last week and I met a German and we ran together for a few hours fighting side by side thank god time's change. 🇬🇧💗🇩🇪
God bless your grandad I have a great grandad in the family but have never seen him or neither do I have a picture of him but Ikow he would’ve fought bravely like any Brit 🇬🇧
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I think maybe Michelle should just react to fictional movies :I
Yeah. She is too ignorant
to when michelle said that "it's sad that if they didn't kill them on the beach, the people in with the machine guns would get killed"... it's true, but you have to remember what you're fighting for. the german side was under the nazi regime, and the reason they killed was to advance their ideologies of a superior race and for world domination. the allies got involved to fight against that. so yes, both sides would've had to kill each other, but one side is killing for, what i believe at least, to be more just values, while the other is killing for more corrupt values. ideally it would be good if both sides could've worked out a peaceful agreement, but obviously that didn't work, so everyone had to resort to war.
How incredibly narrow minded to think the average German/axis soldier on the front lines was only there because they were hateful nazis.
They had the same sense of duty, and were told to defend their country's values, just like the allies were.
@@0btuse_goose Exactly... Black & white, dogmatic and generalizing viewpoints like those of this OP are far too common, and extremely dangerous. Still for some ignorant reason parroting old propaganda that would have us think every german was evil and guilty and deserving of death, while everything the 'good guys' did was good and brave (don't get me wrong, I'm very glad the Axis lost the war). Whenever I see a reaction to a WW2 film and some asshole nods in agreement or even cheers as surrendering german soldiers are gunned down out of vengeance or the "let 'em burn" scene, and other scenes of that nature in other movies - which is *most* reaction videos of WW2 films - I downvote and stop watching immediately. These womens' commentary showed they are good, empathetic people.
@@0btuse_goose they just happened to be on the side of evil. . . .
Fun Fact: The grave of the captain that they used was a coincidence: the name and date of birth and death matched the character.
It's a difficult movie to watch for a reason. It isn't to glorify war, but to educate the masses that war is a dirty business, graphic and brutal. Many people died in WW2, on both sides. Military and civilian alike. Michelle is right about one thing: war has been going on for a long time in the planets history. Not decades, but thousands of years. Mankind is good at two things: adapting/surviving and killing each other.
I have no idea how I ended up here but watching two young women react to this film was extremely important to me. It showed me the level of compassion and empathy that I thought was all but gone in the youth of today.
I watch young folks react to this flick...as many as I can find...gives hope.
Watch the other 2 hobbies reacting to this movie,they ball their eyes out.
You clearly don't know alot of youth today. . .
For me, the saddest part is the ending. Ryan never talked about his past, which is why his wife didn’t know who John h Miller was. And she sees him break down asking if he had a good life. Can we respect our vets? They don’t want to speak on what they’ve been through but they deserve that love and respect.
I am so impressed by the two of you...your command of the English language is amazing. I'm a native English speaker, but learned Mandarin Chinese as a second language. I have NO WHERE NEAR the understanding of the language as you do and can't even hope to. I'm amazed by not only the correctness of your speech, but your understanding of the nuances of the words spoken in common parlance. You two are doing great! Keep it up! And keep it coming!
Appreciate you guys enduring this film solely for others’ entertainment. It’s very tough to watch, and you stayed with it all the way to the end. War is terrible from any sane perspective, so don’t take any negativity about your reaction to heart.
If you watch the medic at 4:26 you can see when his bottle gets hit that it first pours out water and then it begins to pour blood.
If you had shown 1 more second of that before cutting you would have seen the blood.
I asked my grandfather how many people he killed in WW2 when i was a young teenager. He never answered me. He didnt want to talk about any of it. His best friend did his eulogy and i found out he was a sniper and i saw all his medals that I never knew he had. My father was in the 5th grp SF, also a LRRP. I never asked him that question, still won't either. It is a sad thing that we have not evolved out of this insane act called war.
6:30 - "to get to this point to start killing each other" - wise words Viki, Thank you!
@UCNKhTxa-rYO6XHbiUw4WrxA in her words it's like "why do we, 'smart' beings need to go as far as killing each other to resolve our conflicts?
My grandfather was a couple years too young to sign up, but he wanted to…before he passed, we had a chance to chat about a meme one of my cousins has sent him, one he was uniquely able to appreciate
1944 - 18 year olds storm the beaches of Normandy, some even doing so voluntarily, charging into almost certain death, to bring a stop to the nazi menace
2019 - 18 year olds need a “safe space” because mere WORDS just ‘might’ hurt their feelings
Oh what a difference 75 years and 3 generations can make, and not necessarily for the better
He lived through those changes, remembers the toughness of life in that era…his last words to me were that he felt gratified that i and most of his other grandchildren had enough emotional maturity to not be examples of the second half of the meme.
My brother was still active duty in the Marine Corps when this came out... when Upham let the other men die he threw his drink at the screen.
The end of this movie scarred me as a teenager ... "Tell me I'm a good man ..." 💔💔💔😭😭😭
I can relate to your brothers reaction 💯….fuckin upham
Your brother was right to do that. It infuriates me when some people think Upham SOMEHOW redeemed himself by shooting an unarmed prisoner. Upham was a craven and men died because of his cowardice.
I'd consider him to be an escaped prisoner of war who had joined the fight again. I think shooting him on sight was the right way to deal with him.
Not everyone is cut out for fighting. Obviously, people were drafted. Upham was a shy, bookish translator. He served the team commendably in ways he could: firmly telling the French civilians they couldn’t take their children (an area where the braver Caparzo failed and endangered the whole team), loudly shouted commands to surrender when a squad of Germans had their guns pointed at them from feet away after the wall collapse, and ran supplies to the squad during the machine gun assault.
If you watch closely, when Wade was wounded, everyone else was coming up with their own (best effort) ideas of how to treat him or simply comforting him with “You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine”. Only Upham had the presence of mind to calmly ask the trained medic “Tell us how to fix you.” Not even Capt Miller did that.
And even during the final battle, Upham is VERY brave. 1) He runs ammunition across a wide open boulevard under heavy fire toward a friendly machine gun position under close quarters assault 2) He Runs back across to fetch more ammo & Capt Miller - through an enemy tank’s automatic machine gunfire! 3) and was well on his way to bring ammo back to that position until Capt Miller and several others got him to reverse course & take cover from the approaching tank. 4) Even after that he does make it back across the street and doesn’t hesitate until he sees a whole enemy fireteam sprint in nearby.
And yes then he loses it, lets his comrade die, and an enemy troop escape. And later declines to ambush a whole enemy platoon singlehandedly when he might’ve had the jump on them. But still has the presence of mind and moral sense to let enemy soldiers surrender peacefully while shooting the one guy he knows definitively will not abide those terms.
Upham was very brave. In a different context he probably would’ve gotten a Medal of Honor lol. But no he’s not a fighter.
Being frustrated at Upham is understandable for sure, but with him never having seen combat, it's a miracle he didn't freeze up before or abandon the squad entirely when the shit got real. He hung in there as best he could, action or not. The other thing is, though, is that a lot of people who would say "Oh I'd be Billy Badass and mow them all down and take the beaches myself, blah blah blah" when in reality they'd be in the same state that he was in: scared fucking shitless and scraping by as best they could. He's a good depiction of the other side of combat, which is of the vulnerable, scared and mentally broken.
We must all appreciate that so many men and women sacrificed to ensure the world can have peace and tranquility. We must all appreciate the loss and suffering that so many have experienced so we can have computers and watch CZcams for fun.
when he Miller says "earn it", he's saying it to all of us. we always need to remember how much our way of life has cost
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Your reaction was genuine. I could see the pain you felt as you watched. I myself have been in combat as my father before me. I know and appreciate that we are not all meant for it. I am honored and I appreciate you took the time to react to it. It is one of the most well acted, brilliant war movies ever. The emotions it gives you are real. I was able to watch it again after 10 years since my last time in war, and I cried the entire time. Appreciate the hell these men went through, as if not for them, your world would be a much different place today.
If you enjoyed watching Breaveheart then you might like watching Hacksaw Ridge. Mel Gibson directed both of them. Hacksaw was based on a true story.
Braveheart is also based on a true story. William Wallace was a real person. And I agree, Hacksaw Ridge is definitely worth a watch as well.
Don`t forget The Patriot.
Yeah it's a good one
The point of Upham is to show everybody what happens to the "common man", the normal every day people, if they are put in a hectic life or death situation. The select few are able to think and make decisions in frantic situations, while the majority of us would do the same thing that happened to Upham, panicking and being so overtaken with fear that you end up making no decision at all, which is the most dangerous "decision" possible.
6:04 - You pray to be saved, because you're not the one who made the decision to kill your enemy.
In those moments, everyone's goal is pretty much to survive that hell. No one is fixed on killing people, especially since the average age was 24 and the battle experience was zero.
"I don't know how they kill each other" In world war 2 15-20 percent of the infantry couldn't kill the enemy. They either didn't fire at all or fired over the heads of the enemy. They weren't cowards, these men often took greater risks saving wounded, running messages, getting ammo. it was just the thought of taking another human life was unacceptable to them.
Understanding combat tactics, your reaction was so amateurish, but emotionally responding to war, your reaction was SO real and raw. Wonderful.
I respect the two of you lasting the entire film. War is brutal and raw. Every year when we celebrate Veterans here in the states, I reflect on what these men, and our allies went through during these times. And the many that didn't get a chance to come home
I love war films I have practically all the major ones and I understand for some these movies may be hard to watch but that’s war it’s not pretty and it’s a time we must not forget modern or history wars. I guarantee no one wanted to kill anyone but they had too and they sacrificed theirs life’s for are freedom and everyone forgets that.
Guys since this movie came out, out of all the movies I have ever watched and I mean ever, this one was the closest to my heart, going threw life this movie taught me when I have a bad day there's people that had worst days, makes me more grateful to be living In a time that war isnt a part of my life.
I really liked that you could empathize with both sides, to a certain extent. At the end of the day, war is hell or as Captain Hawkeye Pierce once said, 'War isn’t Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.' Much love to you all! 🥰
Are you applauding them for showing the Nazis empathy?
Imagine if someone invaded Bulgaria right now, started killing your family and friends for no reason and nobody came to help. Would you be okay with that? You have to stop treating it like it's just unnecessary "bad vibes". You watched Schindler's list. You should know why it was necessary.
Here's a quote for you: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Well said! I’ve seen a lot of reactions to this movie and a lot of them are like “why are they fighting? Can’t we all just love each other?” Umm…those are Germans in France, so they should be asking why are the Germans in France? A lot of it i just ignorance about history, and we are doomed to repeat it if we don’t learn from
it.
I believe Bugaria wason the Nazi side
Read the book and I mean it, READ THE BOOK "ORDINARY MEN". If you want to know the levels of evil anyone can commit and what normal german retired police battalions did to MURDER civilians by the tens of thousands alone. The basic lesson for all life is that "human responsibility is ultimately an individual choice". There is enough evidence every german soldier knew and witnessed on many occasions what the SS and other Wehrmacht units were doing to civilians yet they fought on and brushed it aside.
We are free today because of that generation. Our boys laid it on the line
The "Mama? .... Mama?" scene get me every time 😥
Greatest war movie ever made. Hands down.
Maybe. It depends.
@@coolerking7427 On what? I’ve never seen a war film that came anywhere close.
@@micchaelsanders6286 Das Boot was great too.
The beach scene at 8:05 is so much tougher when you think that those are brothers, sons, fathers, etc... laying there twisted, torn, and shreded.
A heartfelt reaction, thanks ladies! Regarding the German soldier...well, we don´t know why he was there. It´s imaginable, he ran into a German patrol and not an American one. He was unarmed in no mans land, maybe the Germans thought, quite possible he wanted to surrender to the Americans, which would have been his death sentence. Maybe he was told, he had to redeem himself by fighting particulary hard. And he could have easily killed Upham, which he didn´t, while he had the chance. After all these years I´m still not entirely sure what the message with him was.
Jackson reciting his belief in god...."Blessed be the Lord my strength which teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight" thats some deep stuff
Glad you don t have to go through this. I had to as a marine. Captured the heart of every soldier who had to directly face the enemy. It was all so WE could be here today. Gratitude is the key to life.
For a movie that has all the qualities and is a true story, Black Hawk Down is a must to watch, love your work!!!
Good shout. That film is intense!
It's not a true story. It's based on a true story. There's a big difference
Kingdom of heaven
Amazing movie from start to finish, raw and heartfelt reaction Vickichelle!
7:05 czech guys are saying don't shoot we are czech they force us to fight we don't want to continue fighting. The director, Steven Spielberg, thought that the don't need translation to undertand that they didn't want to fight. And the letter of Lincoln was missinterpreted in the film. And the history that Matt Damon tells about his brothers it's completely invented and improvised by him.
There is an interview NPR did with one of the drivers of the landing boats from the opening scene. He said at first he wouldn't drop the gate because people would automatically die but was ordered to do it. I think he went back like 15 times and said he knew EVERY SINGLE TIME he dropped that ramp people would die from his actions. He ended up taking back like 200 dead soldiers. Thats something that will stick with you until the day you die.
Michelle and Viki, your empathy and sincerity are truly infectious. -------- You understand the sacrifice, the loss, and the emotion at the deepest levels and it makes you such a great reactor. -------- Keep up the good work.
viki
Empathy for Nazis?
@@christopherbascom1629 Not Empathy for Natzi's. Empathy for men on the battlefield. Empathy for a mother losing 3 sons in the span of a week. Vin Disel trying to save a little girl and getting shot in the process. And so many other situations in the movie to mention.
I normally enjoy your reaction videos - but I would recommend a little study on WW2 history to see why things like D-Day were sadly necessary. Your reaction to why people are killing each other would be a little better informed.
I think its so sweet to see how you girls,all of you in this channel,hold hands and hug eachother all the time when its scary scenes on there...
Nobody said war was smart or even necessary but it still happened. 6 minutes in I'm offended that the blue hair is just calling everything stupid, just goes to show when you understand you know their sacrifice and their duty, and you don't judge why or call anything stupid. Thank God these men stormed the beaches, any later my generation and or several others (including hers) might not be here today. My parents had a chance to go to America because their parents before them survived the Holocaust and the atrocities in Europe. Thank all Veterans for their service.
I think after this Mich and Viki should watch "the Fallen of WWII"
It's vitally important to watch, and learn about that particular war as much as you can..Why?..Because we would all be speaking German, and living under facism had we not prevailed...It was the most horrible time in history, and it isn't even ancient history..I'm always surprised to learn how little many younger people know about it..It breaks my heart, and is a travesty in itself.
The Russians made the biggest sacrifice by far among the Allies. And I dont think there is anything wrong with speaking German, fascism on the other hand is a big problem.
Seriously?..Obviously there's nothing wrong with speaking German..Just trying to drive home a point...Speaking German was not the point. Facism was. Nazism was. German was the language of the Nazis. No getting around that one, is there?
Now all of us in the world should speak english, living under USA's savage capitalism (dollar) and they invade every little country they want... Whats the difference??
You ladies are so wonderful, not wanting anyone to kill one another. Being former military myself, when I had seen this movie I left the theater I was shaking so much cuz the battle scenes were so real. And to you Vicki, I could feel your heart breaking every time someone is killed, you have a lovely soul, (And you are just as beautiful outside too💖.) It made me wish I could reach out and hug you and hold you. Thank you both for this reaction. I pray no one has to go through war again, ever. 🙏💖🌹😘😩
Thank you for being willing to sit through all the stress and pain of this movie; for those of us who have not served in combat, it’s a bitter, yet important medicine to take.
not surprised how these ladies reacted. I was feeling sorry for them, it's hard to watch this movie. Nice of them to let us watch their reaction
"I just know that every man I kill the farther away from home I feel."
My grandfather fought in WW2 and only person he ever talk too was my aunt about his experience. He pass away with full military honors in 1989.
Did you know that actor Matt Damon (pvt Ryan) improvised the scene where he was talking about his three brothers in the barn story director Steven Spielberg told him to make something up and he did just right then and there on the spot and added it in the movie!!!
7:10 this film received a lot of acclaim, some of it due to scenes such as this…
War films tend to often highlight the evils of the enemy, and portray the victors of the conflict as righteous and pure
Whereas this scene perfectly demonstrated that evils were perpetrated by both sides
In this case, the allied troops were actively instructed to NOT take any prisoners, as doing so would hinder their efforts to establish the beachhead.
Steamboat Willy had no other choice than to join his own forces again when they were the ones who found him first.
As a soldier you can't say to your Wehrmacht superior, that you don't like to fight again because the enemy was so friendly and let you go.
I remember when my brother and I were around 10-12 and we wanted to start playing games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty, my father (who was not a military man) wanted us to first teach us about the horrors of war as best he could. So he took my brother and I and showed us the Landing at Omaha beach from this movie and then followed up by telling us that there is nothing cool or awesome about war, it´s the closest thing to hell on earth that we´ll ever know. Needless to say, we were a bit traumatized but I´m convinced that it was a necessary teaching moment for us and I will forever be grateful that he did that to his kids.
Also, this movie is amazing! Damn near flawless, if you ask me!
Mich is always so amazed that people could do these things to each other, and I'm not making fun of her for it. I think it's great. We should strive to live in a world where such things are unbelievable, and I'm glad that she feels that way, but this time she said decades. That people have been fighting and killing each other for decades. Decades. People have been fighting and killing each other since the beginning of our kind. Since there was first someone that had something that somebody else wanted, and they were forced to defend or protect it, or have it taken away from them. That's part of who we are as human beings. I hope there are also better things that we are, and that we're capable of, and that we can make what she believes a reality, but in order to do that, we have to accept the reality of the horror of what we're also capable of, and learn to be better.
Don't get mad at the soldiers. Get mad at the ones responsible for causing the war. You know....like Hitler.
Exactly. We weren’t in it for sh**s and giggles girls.
The letters that were taken from each of the men were the ones that they had written for themselves for their families, should they be killed. Their comrades would take the letters and make sure they were sent to their families back home.
When this movie was in theaters, I saw it with my Grandmother, whose brother was in Normandy. After the beginning she was sobbing knowing exactly what her brother went through.
The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramell. The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramell.
Spielberg researched small details, for instance, Pvt Jackson's right thumb has a black mark on it. That's actually a bruise that many U. S. riflemen had caused from getting their thumb caught in the loading mechanism from not locking the bolt back properly when loading/reloading the M1 Garand rifle. It was called "Garand thumb".
The Hitler Youth Knife is more literary liberty than fact. That knife is a hiking knife given to members of the Hitler Youth Corps, which was much like the Boy Scouts in training while being indoctrinated with the ideology of National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi). The only other group they were issued to were members of the SA. This knife was never part of a soldier of the Wehrmacht. As for the reaction of Carparzo and Mellish, it is highly unlikely an average G.I. would have known what that knife was and its symbolism. The matter of Mellish crying is also not likely as the Allies didn't find out about the fate of Jews in Europe until the first concentration camp was liberated April 4, 1945. The war in Europe ended May 7, 1945. So, following the real timeline, Mellish dies before the Allies knew anything about concentration and death camps. But, after-all, it is Hollywood.
Saving Private Ryan is not based on the Sullivan brothers. Fritz Niland became the basis for Private Ryan. He was dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day and spent five days in the French countryside, eventually earning a Bronze star in combat for taking a French. Robert Rodat first came up with the plot in 1994 when he saw a monument in a cemetery in Tonawanda, New York. The monument was to the Niland Brothers - 4 young American men who fought in the Second World War. When three of the Nilands were reported killed, the surviving brother - Fritz - was sent home. This inspired Rodat to write his movie. The average age of a U. S. troops armed forces personnel during WW II was 26 years old. Selective Service draft age range was 18 years of age to 45 years. The average age in Vietnam War was 22, not 19 as any think.
There are 26 military cemeteries across Normandy, but the most famous and visited site is the poignant Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. In real life with the Nilands, it actually turned out later that another of the brothers was alive - he’d been held captive in a Burmese POW camp. Attempts to point out the "discrepancies" between the stories of Fritz Niland and James Ryan are often misguided, as Ryan is only based on Niland, and is not meant to be (or claimed to be) a completely accurate representation of him. The differences in the two stories seem to stem in part from the fact that the true story of Sergeant Niland and his brothers is often reported inaccurately. The character of Private James Ryan is a mixture of fact and fiction, with some of the fictional elements coming from the erroneous stories about the Niland brothers.
The German credited as "Steamboat Willie" who was released by Capt. Miller is not the German who engaged and killed Pvt Stanley "Fish Mellish during hand-to-hand combat. "Steamboat Willie" was in the Heer (Army) of the Wehrmacht and the other was in the Waffen SS which was a paramilitary organization and not part of the Wehrmacht. Originally, the SS uniform differed from the Wehrmacht uniform-whereas the regular army wore field grey, the SS wore black, head to toe (although later the SS did adopt field grey and often wore camouflage pattern uniform. American troops were brown and they didn't wear jackboots. The lightning bolt SS insignia can be seen on the right collar lapel of the German as he passes Upham and reaches the bottom of the staircase. During the Battle at Ramelle, Upham became shell shocked and was unable to save a .30 cal team from a German soldier because he was too frozen with fear to do anything about it. He carried all the .30 caliber ammo at the battle of Ramelle, but was unable to do his job because he was always either pinned down or too afraid to move. He signified the loss of innocence in war and thought that soldiers could be civil, but he later succumbed to the evils of war and made up for his cowardice when he shot Steamboat Willie for killing Miller even after the latter had shown Willie mercy earlier.
Not only did Upham represent the loss of innocence of war but he also symbolized the "Every-man". His illusion of neutrality faded when he finally had to pick and side and kill Steamboat Willie, his character revelation being how he finally understood the horrors of war. It became clear that Upham had turned into a hardened and true soldier because of the whole experience. Upham's rank was Tech 5 Corporal (E-5), that meant he was technician in a specialty area. His was maps and translator, he was not a combat infantryman and was never trained for front-line duty. Gunnery Sergent Hartman explained it this way in the movie Full Metal Jacket: "It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill.
"The way the next of kin was notified of their loved one was killed in action during WW II was by Western Union telegram delivered by a bicycle riding messenger. If you were being notified of multiple deaths as was the case in this film, notification was done in-person by a military officer, usually from the same branch of service as the deceased when possible. That's why the mother upon seeing the officer exit the car momentarily froze knowing that meant at least 2 of her boys were either KIA or MIA, as the priest exits the car, she staggers and completely collapsed. Unfortunately, you didn't include that in your video presentation. That is one of the most important scenes in the movie. The mother speaks no lines in the movie, yet her breakdown brought a flood of tears form movie goers in theaters across the nation. Another important scene is it is clear from the few lines Ryan's wife speaks that she has never heard the name of Capt. John Miller, this means John has never spoken to her about what happened that day in Ramelle. What many missed is listening to Ryan speaking at the Miller's grave of how he thought about what those 8 men did for him every day was not guilt, but commitment.
There are units assigned to recover, bury and mark graves. Usually these were temporary battlefield cemeteries. As hostilities moved farther away, a more permanent site would be selected, at the family's request, whenever possible, the remains would be returned to the United States. At the Normandy Cemetery Visitors Center, you'll find the following inscription: IF EVER PROOF WERE NEEDED THAT WE FOUGHT FOR A CAUSE AND NOT FOR CONQUEST, IT COULD BE FOUND IN THESE CEMETERIES. HERE WAS OUR ONLY CONQUEST: ALL WE ASKED … WAS ENOUGH … SOIL IN WHICH TO BURY OUR GALLANT DEAD.General Mark W. ClarkChairman, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1969-1984