We were to watch this film for my history class, and the suggestion the prof, Annie Gilbert Coleman ([log in to unmask]), had was, as I understand it, that if James Frederick Ryan had been the Ryan they were looking for, it would have been about war's detrimental effects on people, yet the fact that James Francis Ryan was the all-American soldier boy who did not want to leave, and the fact that Cpl. Upham had to kill "Steamboat Wille" to make the transition to become a soldier suggests that the war and serving your duty is the right thing, without question. In that respect, it is difficult to view it as an anti-war film, despite the intense carnage and realism of being entrenched in the battle with the camera eye looking about as if part of the crowd. It is for this reason I can also imagine people hating this film. I never said I did, but I understand well the point, if this is the reason. Scott On Mon, 14 Sep 1998, Carolina Trujillo wrote: > There was a great article in The Economist (believe it or not) on why "Saving > Private Ryan" fails as an anti-war film compared to "The Deer Hunter" and > others. > > ---- > Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the > University of Alabama. > ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite