Saving Private Ryan - Remembering Things He Didn't See
The whole film is based on Private Ryan's flash back right? So how come he flash backs all the things that happened when he wasn't there? e.g The Beach scene etc
I don't think it was meant to be Ryan's flashback, I think it was just a way of getting to the events of that week with the entire group. If it was Private Ryan's own flashback the movie would have followed Matt Damon around and Tom Hanks and his group wouldn't have appeared until there was only a 40 minutes left in the film.
This is a good point people. I see this in film/show flashbacks all the time. And lets say it was a flashback, could there be a slight possibility that one of the other surviving soldiers told him what Miller did in the start? Chances are slim, but it's worth a thought!
Tom Hank's character died in the movie,making it hard to have a flashback from his point of view.
Matt Damon's character is visiting Capt. Miller's grave. Strictly speaking, the movie isn't told in flashback, though I do think that you are initially intended to think it was. I had assumed it was Capt. Miller's flashback and was quite shocked when he died. It later becomes clear only at the end that the old man at the beginning is Pte Ryan.
Timmo, just give away the ending why don't you. There are some people that come here to this site to have some fun, and to look out for big errors before seeing a film. Not everyone that reads what I am typing has seen the movie yet, please show some more consideration. I agree with what you said, but there are ways of rewording things so only the people who has seen the film can understand what you are on about.
Umm, if it didn't show stuff that he didn't see, the movie would be:
1: Short.
2: Boring.
3: Short. (Rim shot)
PS: I am right now looking at the spellcheck screen, and the numbers (the actual digits (1 2 3), not the words following) are checking as correct, but for the numeral 2, it says WRONG! (Suggestions: "two, to, too")
I don't think that the flashback is Pvt. Ryans directly. I believe it's more of a combined flashback of his memories plus the story of the men who risked their lives to find him and bring him back safely.
I always took it as him remembering the war in general, but i can see how people can also take it as a flashback. Its a good comment but i still think its not a flashback because:
As someone said he was not there on the beach.
If it didn't show you anyone telling him what happened then they didn't because that would be an important thing to happen in the film. You can't assume things that the film doesnt show or make any reference too.
He would most likely be talking through it to link scenes together if it was a flashback.
It's not a flashback per se... Ryan is thinking back to what happened to him, including (presumably) what he was told by others who were there... but this use of a 'flashback' where the camera sees details which the character themselves could not possibly have seen is very common. Without it, you would just have the last part of the film with Pvt Ryan in it, plus nothing about anything which happened during that part of the film which *Ryan* himself could not have seen (such as what happened inside buildings)... so, you'd end up with a film about 20 minutes long... which wouldn't tell much of a story!
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