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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions

Saving Private Ryan

The movie Saving Private Ryan shows firsthand the experience of the American soldiers fighting in World War 2 and how strong of a bond can be created through this shared traumatic confrontation. A strong theme throughout the film is the unity of family whether it be between mother and son, husband and wife, or brother to brother not related by blood. This theme is central to the film with the plot line consisting of a team searching for Private Ryan solely for the sake of preventing his mother from being left with no sons. It is important to show that the military did truly care about saving the life of one man while risking many others in order to ensure no family was left completely broken. There were, however, a few men that were not so pleased to risk their lives in order to ensure the safety of only one man, which I understand. I can’t say I completely agree with the need to sacrifice many lives for the life of one man, but the end of the film does help the viewer sympathize more with Private Ryan’s life being protected. One scene that sticks out a lot when thinking about brotherhood is when they finally find Private Ryan and tell him that his actual brothers are dead, which prompts him to demand to stay in battle to be with the only brothers he feels he has left.

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