- Saving Private Ryan **** (4)
- Das Boot **** (4)
- Regeneration ***** (5)
I know, I know, you're saying: "What? Private Ryan over Thin Red Line? Are you crazy?" I have a private theory about these two movies and the people who promote Ryan over the Line. Anyway, I chose to review Ryan because it is the American war movie. I agree, Thin Red Line is better, but only marginally so. They would still get the same number of stars. It is not that much better. It is certainly not what one might call an 'American war movie.' The Cranky Critic calls it an art house movie.
Let's get going! Aristotle talks about the human good, the one thing that we all strive for. He says its happiness, self fulfillment. War is very much the opposite of this. These three movies each have a different take on this idea. War movies, if they are worth their salt, should explore and peer into, in a visual and literary way, how war affects these our most important human projects whether as individuals or collectively. DAs Boot does the latter.
As a project of the German people, the U-Boat is a symbol of nationalism and collective aspiration. Though I don't agree with the final message entirely at least it speaks to us about war. Unfortunately, the issue of war is transcended, indeed, in the end it is not clear whether or not we are still talking about war. In the greatest visual expression of existential angst, it is no longer certain if war is the only thing that is futile, perhaps all human action is. This is a weakness of the German perspective. It cannot do otherwise lest it take sides in the conflict.
In Private Ryan, there is a schizophrenia. On one hand war is portrayed as horrible violence. Let's be honest, this is not very imaginative. Happiness, as simple physical pleasure, is an impossibility. But then, happiness is, in some sense, possible. The band of brothers adventure that makes up the second act provides a glimmer of light through the storm clouds that showered blood during the first act. This kind of camaraderie is present in all three and just as effective. It is the third act that really pissed me off, and sealed this movies fate as, yet another American war movie. The last stand, good old fashioned ingenuity, and a character forged in battle all stink of jingoism! On the other hand, not including these things is like having Bond without a Bond girl! The clincher, of course, was the cemetery scene. I'm being harsh here because everything is done with the subtlety of a Las Vegas neon sign. However, these are important themes. We cannot forget about sacrifice and the good things that have come from war.
Regeneration on the other hand does everything with style, subtlety, restraint and art. When violence is psychic the will has been overcome and the self cannot be realized. Happiness in Aristotle's grand sense is impossible. Ryan is a triumph of the will, Das Boot is about the futility of willing anything while Regeneration shows you how war paralyzes the will. Yet, in the end, the will triumphs. Most of the themes in Ryan are present, but there is no jingoism. There are positive things to come from war. This movie is not silent on this issue. For Ryan friendship and life are saved. In this movie friendship too survives the war, and obviously so does life, but human creativity and art do too. The enduring things, the vehicles of expression and self realization are present here like in no other war movie. When the images and characters are brought into the calculation this move's superiority is well established.
Well, those are my thoughts, and I'm sticking with 'em!
