James Ryan walks through the American Cemetery in Normandy, an old man. He stops at a headstone, and falls to his knees, tears in his eyes. The headstone reads: John Miller. As Ryan’s wife comes to his side, he says through his tears, “Have I been a good man? Tell me I’ve lived a good life.” Moved, his wife assures Ryan that he has. Yet the tears don’t abate. James Ryan can’t be sure if he’s been good enough.
In Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg marshals a wonderful ensemble cast to tell a beautifully scripted, beautifully shot, movingly acted, and soul-crushingly judgmental story. Private James Ryan is the fourth son of a woman who has lost the other three in World War II. It has been decided that she will not lose a fourth. So John Miller, played by Tom Hanks, is tasked with taking a squad of eight men to find just one. Miller’s squad eventually loses every man in the effort to save Private Ryan.
Miller meets his own end defending a bridge by Ryan’s side. With his last breath, he looks at Private Ryan and whispers, “Earn this.” With these words, he dies. We flash sixty years into the future, and the octogenarian Ryan has clearly lived his entire life with this great weight on his shoulders. Has he indeed earned the salvation that Miller’s squad gave their lives for? Miller himself, earlier in the film, muses, “He better be worth it. He’d better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb.” Has he discovered a cure for malaria? Has he invented cold fusion? That awesome upside-down ketchup bottle? As viewers, we aren’t given to know. What we do know, however, is that he’s worried. Why else does he beseech his wife to comfort him? We see that he has a beautiful family. His wife tells him he has been a good man. Clearly, leading a good life has not freed him from the judgment of Miller’s words.
Christians too often hear these words, “earn this,” coming from Jesus’ lips as he dies on the cross. We hear sermons to this effect: “Is the life you’re living worth the death he died?” We live our lives trying to earn it, to become someone for whom such a sacrifice isn’t so radically inappropriate. We turn into old James Ryans, worried that it hasn’t been quite enough. The most shocking revelation of the film is that Ryan’s wife has no idea who John Miller is! Miller’s judgment has been so heavy that Ryan has not been able to share his name or story with his beloved for his whole life!
But Jesus doesn’t say, “Earn this” from the cross. He says, “It is finished.” Even more radically, he says, “I tell the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” The message of the Gospel is diametrically opposed to John Miller’s “Earn this.” Miller applies the law to Ryan’s future in a way that Ryan can never escape. No matter how profound an altruist Ryan may become, the profundity of Miller’s sacrifice will never allow Ryan to feel satisfied, or safe from Miller’s judgment-from-beyond-the-grave. One word of law destroys the grace Miller shows in sacrificing his life for Ryan. But it is not so with Christ.
COMMENTS
26 responses to “Mockingbird at the Movies: Saving Private Ryan”
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Wow, great post Nick. Such an accessible movie and such a simple point, but what a profound thing it is! I will definitely be using this one in the future…
Nick, I’ve always loved this movie chiefly because of that horrible, gut-wrenching final scene (the “earn this” vs. the “tetalestai” of Christ on the Cross). You have provided a great perspective on it…Thanks, Jeff
Lovely post, Nick.
I’ll add THE DISH to my queue — thanks for the tip. I am a big fan of Sam Neill (Country Life, The Piano).
Wow, a movie i’ve actually seen! Great post Nick and your literary skills are even better. The point “one word of law destroys the grace …” cannot be overemphasized. I used this point in a sermon recently and a lady in the congregation who is mad at another man for his divorcing his wife said on the way out, “Good sermon, I hope Fred heard that.” It’s like we can’t be careful enough! So Ryan invented the upsidedown ketchup bottle?
What a wonderful post this is,
dear Nick Lannon.
Very revealing, that the wife has never heard from her husband what really happened.
Instinctively, Law makes one hide, and hide out — even in a stirring case such as this.
“I heard your voice in the garden and was afraid.”
I’m glad that the judgmentalism of the the thing doesn’t make me like the movie any less. Watch especially for Barry Pepper and Ed Burns, both great. Jeremy Davies is a little over-the-top for me though. And don’t forget the most underrated actor of all time, the BRILLIANT Tom Sizemore!
Thank you, Nick. I was always uncomfortable with Miller’s “earn this” at the end, but could never articulate why. Now I will shamelessly plagiarise you for some or all of my sermons this week.
HA! Plaige away! I basically preached this post (with a little filling out) on Good Friday last year.
I think I just found my Maundy Thurs sermon!
Love it Nick. I’ve always loved the movie and hated the “Earn this.” part.
It does show the limits of human love and sacrifice. I’ve always related to the men’s frustration and anger over having to try to save this one guy. John Miller’s line when he says, “If saving Ryan gets me home to my wife, then that’s what I’m gonna do.” (or something to that effect) reveals our selfish motivation. Anyhow, love the post Nick.
Truth, hope, freedom.
Thank you.
Great Review. I have always really loved this movie but was disappointed in the ending. My friends also deeply disliked that strand of the plot.
You guys are doing an excellent thing with this blog. Keep up the good work.
Great post. The folks in Acts 2 “shared all things” because they had just been “given all things”, not because they were trying to “pay back” God. That has been a lesson often forgotten in church history.
My compadre, Pat Kyle, mentions that his “friends also deeply disliked that strand of the plot.” Talk about understatement.
Some of you there at Mockingbird know my father (Dr. Rod Rosenbladt), and so this may make a little more sense to you… but I attribute my reaction, instant and white-hot anger at that line of the movie, to my experience growing up in a grace-filled home with my dad.
“Earn this.”
At that point, I actually raised my fist and began uttering things out loud in the theater that I daren’t mention here. I was that angry.
The rest of the movie was shattered by that one line. I couldn’t wait to get out of the theater because I KNEW what was coming next based on the initial scene in the movie which preceded the action. (It was all one big flashback.) Guilt. Endless guilt and fear.
So, needless to say, I don’t watch that movie much. As I’ve said to some before, I get enough law from the world 24/7/365, I CERTAINLY don’t need more spoonfed to me in a movie! What I need is what ISN’T common here – grace. The grace of a good father.
Period.
And if you ain’t got that, you’ve lost me. See ya.
And if you need to hear it? I may be able to help you out a little bit. Let me tell you a little bit about my father and grandfather.
Oddly, as angry as I was at Tom Hanks for this (I pretty much decided to direct all my ire his way), I was simply awed by what he helped make in “Band of Brothers”. That series is simply one of the finest World War II stories that I’ve ever seen. And I have to attribute it to the fact that the movie makers were willing to keep the real guys on the set to make sure all the details were right, even if it meant doing things again.
Because the reality was simply so much better than the crap concocted in “Private Ryan.”
If you haven’t seen “Band of Brothers”, do it. Rent it, buy it, love it. It is everything that “Private Ryan” wasn’t. Amazing.
Thank you for this post. Great connection to the law and the immeasurable grace in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
VDMA
Ted,
i’m totally with you 100%.
everyone else, if you need Band of Brothers, I have the entire series on DVD.
if you want it, let me know. it is truly something else. i’ll be happy to get it to you.
I’m here with Pat and we were talking about this post. I forgot something! The sniper. That guy almost entices me to watch “Private Ryan” one more time. If you have to watch that movie again, simply pay attention to that sniper and enjoy. I mean, to hear him quote Scripture as he’s going about his vocation? Great!
Amen Ted and Burton!
Band of Brothers is excellent! The characters are so good (obviously because they are real), and the acting is superb. I couldn’t agree with you more.
Also, the sniper is fantastic in SPR!
This post reminds me of what Scott Hoezee tells about CS Lewis (in THE RIDDLE OF GRACE)…during a British conference on comparative religions, experts were debating what was unique about the CHRISTIAN faith. Was it the INCARNATION? Was it the RESURRECTION? On and on the discussion went when LEWIS walked into the room and asked “What is rumpus about?” When he heard the debated issue he replied, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s GRACE.” And after further discussion all of the attendees were in accord with LEWIS, it is GRACE. The Unconditional LOVE OF GOD ‘shed abroad in out hearts’, the no strings attached GOODNESS of GOD pour out into our world ‘free of charge!’ That is the unique message of CHRIST! Not KARMA, not some BUDDHIST multiple pathway to NIRVANA, not ISLAMIC CODE OF LAW, not JEWISH CODE OF BEHAVIORS…no need to EARN HIS APPROVAL…HE gives it to me!!
“The sniper” is the above-mentioned Barry Pepper, who, along with my beloved Tom Sizemore, contribute to the really great acting in SPR. See also “25th Hour” for Pepper, and “Heat” and “The Relic” for Sizemore. Also, look for Sizemore in Heidi Fleiss’ bedroom. We all have our vices!
@Clifford
Once you see “Band of Brothers”, even just a few episodes of it, you’ll know you’re not going to be disappointed. I will vouch for that series all day with no reservation, especially regarding a sense of camaraderie.
Regarding the final paragraph of your comment, one of the things I simply LOVED about “Band of Brothers” is the interviews of the actual men upon whom the series is based. They show the men speaking with every episode.
I’m telling you. If you liked “Private Ryan” at all, you’re going to FLIP over “Band of Brothers.” And remember, it’s all real. It’s the actual story of the real Easy Company from the men themselves.
Cliff,
You are so right, and Ted’s response is the truth. The personal accounts coupled with the episodes in BofB are so moving. The men remember it all like it was yesterday.
Thanks for your comments!
When people tell me I look like Berger from Sex And The City (which they do…), I always say, NO! If i look like anyone it’s Capt Nixon from Band of Brothers.
That “Bastogne” episode might ranks as the top achievement in HBO history…
I love Band of Brothers too, for all the reasons you guys have said.
Cliff, maybe you could write something about Das Boot? (Never seen it myself.) Or start a thread about war movies? This seems to be something a lot of our readers want to talk about.
I have my own favorites: BoB of course. Lawrence of Arabia. Bridge over River Kwai. Full Metal Jacket. Henry V (Kenneth Branaugh). Others I can’t think of right this second. And I have heard some great things about Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, though I haven’t seen it.
Nick, I posted a link to this fine piece on AdventBirmingham.org.
Thanks Charles! Have we met? I’m honored to be on the Advent website!
Great stuff, looks like someone might be trying to plagiarize your work.
http://anuncommongrace.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/it-is-finished/#comment-339