D-Day historian: 'Ryan' not best war film

[rhinobones]

The following article was in today's CNN news.
Regards, RhinoBones
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D-Day historian: 'Ryan' not best war film
By Matthew Carey, CNN
November 11, 2009 7:49 a.m. EST

(CNN) -- Some reviewers have called "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg's World War II film about D-Day and the search for a soldier, one of the greatest war movies.

Military historian Antony Beevor begs to differ.
Not only is it not the greatest war movie, it's not even the best cinematic depiction of D-Day, says Beevor, author of the newly published "D-Day: The Battle for Normandy" (Viking).
He admires the famed Omaha Beach opening -- "Probably the most realistic battle sequence ever filmed," he said -- but described the rest of "Saving Private Ryan" as "ghastly."

"It's sort of a 'Dirty Dozen' cliche of the worst form," he said.
He has expanded on the criticism in a lecture. "Spielberg's basic story line had great potential. It shows the tension between patriotic and therefore collective loyalty, and the struggle of the individual for survival: those mutually contradictory pressures, which in many ways lie at the heart of war," Beevor observed in the talk.
If any filmmakers wish to take on D-Day again, Beevor's book provides enough material for a dozen screenplays. Making use of first-person accounts stored in the National Archives, as well as a wealth of other material, Beevor depicts in painstaking detail not only the D-Day landings by American, British, Canadian and Free French forces, but also the subsequent battle for the whole of Normandy that proved pivotal in defeating Nazi Germany.

Beevor says a director would do well to remember that the Allied effort to retake the continent extended well beyond that single day of June 6, 1944.

"D-Day, although an iconic moment, was not actually the end of it. Films like 'The Longest Day' and 'Saving Private Ryan' almost give the impression that D-Day was 'it' and then the next thing people know about was the liberation of Paris," he said. "But in fact it was the fighting in Normandy which was far worse. Casualties on D-Day were far lighter than expected -- [military leaders] had expected 10,000 dead and only 3,000 died.

"The real fighting and the real casualties," he added, "came in the Battle of Normandy."
So what does Beevor prefer in the way of a Hollywood treatment of D-Day? Another project Spielberg had a hand in, "Band of Brothers."
"On the whole I think [it] was pretty close to the truth," Beevor said of the 2001 HBO miniseries, which Spielberg and Tom Hanks executive produced. He called it "incomparably more realistic" than "Saving Private Ryan."

"The improvement was presumably due to the fact that it was a pretty faithful adaptation of the book by Stephen Ambrose," he said.
A major problem with "Ryan," Beevor said, is the climax of the film. "The U.S. Air Force arrives in the nick of time just like the U.S. cavalry in 1950s cowboy films. And to cap it all, the final frames are of Pvt. Ryan, standing in old age amid the rows of white crosses in a military cemetery, saluting his fallen comrades as tears run down his cheeks."

That's Spielberg "milking our tear ducts with both hands," Beevor said.
But then again, the historian believes Hollywood is not well cast in the role of purveyor of history.
"The central problem is that historical truth and the needs of the movie and television industry remain fundamentally incompatible. Hollywood has to simplify World War II according to set formulae," Beevor said in his lecture. "Its films have to have heroes and of course baddies. There are seldom shades of gray."

Among WWII films, Beevor praises two from 2006 directed by Clint Eastwood (and produced by Spielberg), "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima".

"But they are the exception which proves the rule that you do not need to resort to the tricks, the false claims of truth and even the clichés of the platoon movie," he said.

And the best war movie? Beevor looks away from Hollywood for his answer: 1965's "The 317th Platoon," a French film set during that country's war in Indochina.

[parmenio]

I'm guessing "newly-published" means on the other side of the pond since Beevor's book has been sitting in my pile of "things I haven't got round to reading yet" for a while.
 

[sapper32]

I watched a French war film recently called days of glory about 4 NorthAfrican soldiers who joined the Free French Forces in WWII, Realy enjoyed it funnily on the cover it says the best warfilm since saving private ryan

[Silvanski]

"The Longest Day" may have it's inaccuracies, but I certainly find it one of the most entertaining war movies ever, and Band Of Brothers a great series...

[Boonierat]

Can't agree more with Beevor when he cites The 317th Platoon as one of the best war movies ever.

[rhinobones]

Have always found the original 1930’s All Quiet on the Western Front to be a compelling film about how war robs people and nations of their youth and innocence. Tragic ending . . . but then the entire movie was designed to end in tragedy.

Agree that The Longest Day is another of the Great War films. Historical or not, it had all the right scenes, battles and big name actors. Also think that A Bridge Too Far was in many ways a sequel to The Longest Day. Big battle broken into many small engagements, lots of big name actors and a portrayal that gives the over all view of the battle.

There were also a couple of Italian movies that I saw a few bits of years ago that I would like to see in entirety. One dealt with a squad of Italian infantry in North Africa commanded by a German officer. The squad did their duty to the best of their ability but were torn between their allegiance to country and fagging the German officer. The other movie was about Italians defending against the Russian assaults (around Stalingrad I suppose) during the winter campaign.

If anyone can identify these movies, please let me know so that I can get a copy through the local distributor.

Full Metal Jacket is the only modern day movie that I find realistic, and this is limited to the first half of the movie. The first half deals with USMC boot camp . . . this is real 1960’s USMC boot camp.. The second half, starting when the recruit commits suicide, is more Hollywood screen play. For Nam combat, there are other good movies.

Regards, RhinoBones

[berto]

Band of Brothers is tops in my book. Great series.

[Curtis Lemay]

"Blackhawk Down" would be near the top for me. But "Saving Private Ryan" is a great film. It was fiction, and not meant to depict a real event. It's intent was to get the "feel" right, so that viewers felt like they were there - experiencing combat. It succeeded. And thereby influenced films that followed it (like "Band of Brothers", for example).

[V22 Osprey]

I don't know, this guy has a point about the real fighting being at Battle of Normandy, not just D-Day.BUT, the story of Saving Private Ryan wasn't the battle or D-Day in particular.The D-Day scene was just about how they got there.The Storyline and Battle scenes are still one of best in any war movie, IMO.This looks like some plot to degrade an otherwise fantastic war movie.

[rhinobones]

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey

IMO.This looks like some plot to degrade an otherwise fantastic war movie.

A plot? Please expound.

Regards, Rhin0Bones

[parmenio]

This looks like some plot to degrade an otherwise fantastic war movie.

More like a way to generate some column inches/airtime for a newly-published book. Slag off a famous film and get some free publicity.

[cesteman]

I saw a Russian war movie on AMC a few months ago. Had subtitles and looked like a typical Patriotic movie for them as it was shot in 1943. First time watching it but can't remember the name. It always interests me to watch movie I haven't seen before. Whish I could remember the name. Dang it.

[sapper32]

Was just sorting through some old DVD's and there was Zulu a 1960's film staring a little known Micheal Caine and the Brilliant Stanley Baker as the officers in the 1879 defense of a mission station on the borders of Zululand classic, the story was changed a bit for film plenty of VCs where won that day,Ok probarbly due to the disaster earlier that day but great war film.

[cesteman]

Almost forgot to mention that I did read the article OP posted. Never heard of the French movie. I wonder where I can find it?

[Raver508]

ORIGINAL: sapper32

Was just sorting through some old DVD's and there was Zulu a 1960's film staring a little known Micheal Caine and the Brilliant Stanley Baker as the officers in the 1879 defense of a mission station on the borders of Zululand classic, the story was changed a bit for film plenty of VCs where won that day,Ok probarbly due to the disaster earlier that day but great war film.

Strangely enough I think I remember watching this film as a kid. If I recall right it was mercilessly pro-British.

[sapper32]

Yes your proberbly right i suppose its the story that sticks out in the war the few defeat the many after the destruction of Number 2 column us Brits remember the victory more readily than Isandlwhana or the destruction of the Zulu army at Ulundi a year or so later.

ORIGINAL: Raver508

ORIGINAL: sapper32

Was just sorting through some old DVD's and there was Zulu a 1960's film staring a little known Micheal Caine and the Brilliant Stanley Baker as the officers in the 1879 defense of a mission station on the borders of Zululand classic, the story was changed a bit for film plenty of VCs where won that day,Ok probarbly due to the disaster earlier that day but great war film.

Strangely enough I think I remember watching this film as a kid. If I recall right it was mercilessly pro-British.