Cinema has emulated reality or animated reality in different ways. I look today at one of the most brutal films of the 2000s, Saving Private Ryan, and whether Saving Private Ryan is based on a true story.
Saving Private Ryan is considered the most realistic description of war in film. It is one side of the darkest period in human history, World War 2; ethics clash, and lines of humanity remain blurred. Eventually, remember the veterans of war who gave up their lives fighting for their rights and wrongs.
Let’s verify some of the inspirations and realities that inspired Robert Rodat and piqued the interest of famous director Steven Spielberg. Is Saving Private Ryan based on a true story or not?
Inspirations behind Saving Private Ryan
When gifted D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II (1994), written by Stephen E. Ambrose, by Robert Rodat’s wife, he drafted the script of Saving Private Ryan. Along with this, accounts from real veterans of war and rewrites from famous authors such as Frank Darabont and Scott Frank were implemented in the script.
Is Private Ryan a real person?
Private Ryan is inspired by war veteran Frederick ‘Fritz’ Niland’s story, but how much of it is shown in the film?
Frederick was one of four brothers during World War 2 and sadly had passed away during battle. This compelled the military to recover the last sibling from the conflict and return him to his parents.
This overarching story is the foundation for the plot of Saving Private Ryan, but the military did not enlist eight men to save one man from Nazi lines. That part of the film is entirely fictional.
Later, another son Edward was found alive and brought home. So the story is not as tragic as the movie, where only three of the eight soldiers deployed to rescue Ryan survive.
Was the motive behind saving Private Ryan an actual military practice?
Early World War 2, military enlistment included no opinions and rules on siblings in the same regiment. Following this, the Sullivan brothers were enlisted aboard the USS Juneau. Sadly, the American ship sank, and the brothers, alongside 28 other sets of siblings, passed away.
This brought changes to military enlistment in that siblings were not allowed to enlist together in the same unit. The sole-surviving policy was born to relieve families of the pain of losing all their sons.
This led to Frederick being rescued after the army heard the news of all his brothers passing away. This military practice is what we observe in Saving Private Ryan. The aftermath of the Sullivan brothers and more incidents resulted in the progression of many generations of families in the US.
Steven Spielberg’s Father and his indirect contribution to the Film
Steven Allan Spielberg served in the US military. He told stories to his son, who was yet to be the director we all know. Propaganda and war films during those days glorified war in hopes of enlistment increase. Steven Spielberg was one of the kids who believed in these films.
However, later on, as he witnessed post-World War 2 and its effects upon the world, Steven found the semi-prefect script in Robert Rodat’s hands and sought to create the World War 2 his father had experienced.
Conclusion
While the film’s opening scenes depict Operation Overlord in the most realistic and gruesome sense, the plot has many elements added to ensure a proper conclusion in the film and the addition of several characters inspired but not existing in real life.
After all, if you had the command, would you send in several men to save only one man?
