Saving Private Ryan Trailer

Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Captain Miller: James Francis Ryan of Iowa?

Private Ryan: Yes, sir. Paton, Iowa, that's correct. What is this about?
Captain Miller: Your brothers were killed in combat.
Private Ryan: Which - Which ones?
Captain Miller: All of them. 

Saving Private Ryan is one of those films that will leave you in awe at that generation who spent their youth fighting far away from home for our freedom. Nobody can watch the first few minutes of the film when the Normandy landings are underway and not come back with a lump in their throat.

The film tells the story of a small number of elite US Army Rangers who are ordered to journey deep into occupied Normandy, only a few days after the invasion, and retrieve a paratrooper who is the last surviving son in his family, as all his brothers recently died in combat. The Rangers are, perhaps understandably, not best pleased at the fact that they have to risk their lives, for the sake of one person.

Just how much is a person’s life worth? The film isn’t glorifying war or the US Army, quite the opposite in fact. During the Normandy landings we see numerous American soldiers commit war crimes, and in the middle of the film our group of Rangers also come close to murdering a German POW.  These Rangers are not carrying out a mission that will end the war or save thousands of their comrades; they are simply carrying out a Public Relations exercise. At the end of the film, with most of the Rangers dead, we are left in no doubt that Private Ryan has spent the rest of his life trying to earn that salvation.

All references come from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/

Click here to buy Saving Private Ryan: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saving-Private-Ryan-DVD-Hanks/dp/B00004Y3NM

Lincoln 2012

Thaddeus Stevens: Trust? Gentlemen, you seem to have forgotten that our chosen career is politics.

Robert Latham: It's not illegal to bribe congressmen. They starve otherwise.

Abraham Lincoln: I am the President of the United States of America, clothed in immense power! You will procure me those votes!

Along with Amazing Grace, Lincoln is one of the few films which show the contradictions inherent in political life. Both tell the stories of righteous men battling to defeat the evil of slavery through peaceful, democratic and sometimes boring means. Where these two films differ is on the means used by the protagonists to achieve the death of slavery.

Lincoln, brought to life splendidly by Daniel Day Lewis, knows that he only has a very short time to bring the amendment to abolish slavery to the House of Representatives in the dying days of the war. I won’t go through the intimate details of the American political system with its Federal and State level legislatures and executive offices. He knows he needs 20 votes from the opposing Democratic Party in order to pass the amendment and he also knows that a large number of democrats have been voted out of power and are spending their last few months as members of Congress. He proceeds to buy these votes for the amendment.

The major theme of the film is: does the end justify the means? Lincoln bribes politicians, deceives the House of Representatives (an impeachable offense) and even seems willing to prolong the Civil War to guarantee the passage of the amendment. It is up to the individual viewer to decide if his dishonest, and illegal, actions were justified in order to abolish the evil of slavery in America.

All references come from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443272/?ref_=nv_sr_5b

Click here to buy Lincoln: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lincoln-DVD-Daniel-Day-Lewis/dp/B008OHCO1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392632287&sr=8-1&keywords=lincoln

Lincoln trailer

Ronin, 1998

Spence: You ever kill anybody?

Sam: I hurt somebody's feelings once.

If you haven’t seen Ronin, you have genuinely missed out. This action-thriller directed by John Frankenheimer boasts a star-studded cast, great action scenes (including the best car chase I have ever seen) and a genuinely interesting storyline.

A gang of Cold War warriors,  Ex-CIA Sam ( Robert De Niro), French Gangster Vincent (Jean Reno), SAS veteran Spence (Sean Bean), getaway driver Larry (Skipp Sudduth) and, finally, former Stasi/KGB operative Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård) are hired by Deirdre (Natascha McElhone) to get a suitcase from the Russian Mafia . Retrieving the case is pretty easy; however, it all goes downhill when Gregor steals the suitcase, forcing Deirdre to leave the team and join with IRA enforcer Seamus O'Rourke (Jonathan Pryce). Sam and Vincent decide to get the case for themselves, competing with Seamus and Deirdre to track down Gregor before he sells it back to the Russians.

The main theme in the film is the effect of past mistakes and choices on the present. When Deirdre is asked why she joined the IRA, she retorts “a wealthy scoundrel seduced and betrayed me.” Sam agrees with her and we are left wondering who exactly has seduced these people, be it Terrorist groups committed to a cause, or even Governments. These are all individuals who have made choices in the past which have rebounded on them. They joined causes that they believed in during the Cold War, but which in the 90’s have left them living in a dangerous and dark world. These people are not young patriotic James Bonds. These are tired, cynical and middle-aged veterans of past shadow wars who now have to live with their past.

All references come from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122690/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Click here to buy Ronin: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ronin-DVD-Robert-De-Niro/dp/B00004CYL5/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391967407&sr=8-1&keywords=ronin

Ronin trailer