Saving Private Ryan
Summary:
The opening scene of the movie starts on the
beaches of Normandy on June 6 1944. The second battalion under Captain Miller
fights to secure the beachhead when two brothers have been killed in action.
Then earlier, the third brother is killed in action, the mother Ms. Ryan is
going to received three horrible telegrams that three of her sons are dead on
the same day. The United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshal wants to
relieve some of Ms. Ryan’s grief by sending her fourth son home, Private James
Ryan. The Marshal Believes that no mother should lose all of her sons to war, so
Chief of Staff, George C. Marshal sends out a platoon of 8 men to try and find
him and bring him back home. The rest of the movie is about their journey
through hell to try and find then young man the Second World War. This movie
tends to highlight the leadership skills of Cpt. Miller because he shows his
determination and sacrifice to try and find and save Private Ryan.
Roles of a Leader:
A.
As
the platoon is sent out to find private miller they talk about why they should
risk their lives for just this one guy that they don’t even know. This asks the
question how valuable is human life? This is where Cpt. Miller then portrays
his first leadership quality. Cpt. Miller does not
discourage the questions that surround the mission. But he can’t join in the
complaining. He lets the spirited young men to voice their concerns, maybe he
realizes the futility of his position. How can one convince another to go to
risk for another person that he does not even know? He uses humor and directed
discussion between his men to further the sense of purpose about their mission.
Instead of authoritative lectures about duty or simple orders to "shut
up," Miller leads his men in a mature fashion. They respond appropriately.
In this way he is able to encourage closeness between the men that is not so
contrived as the intellectual attempts at brother. The second form of
leadership that’s Cpt. Miller portrays is authoritarian. In this part of the
movie Cpt. Miller decides to go against the advice of is men and make an open
field attack on the Nazi’ radar nest that is heavily guarded. The plan that Cpt. Miller than thought
of was greatly successful due to his leadership skills and the courage his men
had, but one of the members of the group had a very slow death, and the men
watched in agony while he called for his mom. Another example of Cpt. Miller’s
leadership is when he decided to blind fold the surviving Nazi soldier and set
him free. This decision has frustrated Private Reiben to the point of abandoning the
mission. Sgt.
Horvath becomes outraged with Reiben’s decision and orders him to stand down.
Horvath even pulls out a pistol and forces Reiben to obey. Reiben would
apparently rather risk his life than continue on the mission. Horvath seems
intent on killing him if he leaves. This is when Cpt. Miller has stepped in, he
doesn’t order the troops to break it up but instead he tells the troops about
his own life, this is something he has kept a secret. He tells the troops he’s a teacher and
has a family life; he then goes on to admit that he doesn’t know the meaning of
war or the importance of Private Ryan. Reiben was clearly moved by the Captains
heart to heart and he has decided to carry on with the mission. Cpt. miller has decided to lead by
example. In this example of leadership Cpt. Miller show both Strength and
perseverance. The scene I am talking about is the battle of the bridge.
B.
Cpt. Miller’s leadership style represents a mix of
authoritarian and democratic. I
wouldn’t say that he is only authoritarian because he takes his men’s opinion
into consideration and doesn’t lead like a dictator. On the other hand he is
not a completely democratic leader either, he will go with his gut like in the
open field scene where his men advise him bot to make that attack but he makes
the command anyways, and it turns out to be successful. Out of the two
leadership traits that represent Cpt. Miller authoritarian is the more dominant
of the two. Even though he hears his soldier’s thoughts, he will make the
decision he thinks is right even if his men doubt him. There are also many
other traits that make Cpt. Miller a great leader but his style has to vary
from situation to situation. Also in the sniper battle scene Cpt. Miller is
calling the shots and makes up a game plan to kill the enemy sniper and save
the rest of his men. That’s what makes him a great leader; he has the ability
to make a smart quick decision on his feet, and the leadership he portrayed
ended up in the savor of Private Ryan’s life.
C.
The vision and mission n that Cpt. Miller has
is the basis of the whole movie, to save Private Ryan’s and to keep himself and
all of his men alive. In the
beginning he is just a soldier that is leading his troops on the front lines.
But then he has been assigned a different task, to find Private Ryan and bring
him home. Cpt. Miller and his team
of eight men are sent to go and bring Private Ryan home. So the mission of Cpt.
Miller is to find Private Ryan and bring him back home. The vision is to find Private Ryan,
bring him home, and keep all of his men safe and alive. But, this is war and
men are most likely to die. Cpt. Miller knows this but still preservers to keep
his entire troop safe by making smart decisions. Like when he reveals parts of his personal life. Cpt. Miller
has tried to keep this a secret but in this moment where two of the men are in
a conflict he demonstrates the trait of honesty to his men that inspires them
to move on.
D.
How Cpt. Miller uses many ways to make his
team better and to come together. Like the scene I have previously used before
when the two soldiers were in a fight. Cpt. Miller uses his leadership to bring
the two arguing soldiers together and make the one soldier (Private
Ryan. Reiben) come back and not quit the team of men trying to find Private
Ryan. Another scene where he works to improve his soldiers is in the final
battle scene when the team and the other soldiers are trying to hold the bridge
and not let the Nazi’s pass. This is the ending scene of the movie where you
find the true meaning and purpose of the movie also, Cpt. Millers biggest
portrayal of his leadership. This final scene is about sacrifice. The whole
entire team of men gave their life to save Private Ryan under Cpt. Millers
orders and leadership. IN the end Cpt. Miller is killed by the very Nazi that
he let go earlier in the movie. Earlier in the scene he brings the troops
together and leads them to defend the bridge and to not give it up. With his
careful planning and strategies the men end up holding the bridge and saving
Private Ryan.
E.
Cpt. Miller leads his men to success but
failure as well. IN the end the
mission was a success, by saving Private Ryan. But, all of the men in Cpt.
Millers platoon had died. They had given up their lives for a complete
stranger. This is the prefect representation of sacrifice and leadership. Cpt.
Miller doesn’t tell his men nor does he know they will all die but they ended
up giving their lives to save this one. In the final scene when Cpt. Miller is
dying he talks to Private Ryan and makes him truly realize the leadership and
sacrifice that Cpt. Miller and his men have portrayed. Another time that Cpt.
Miller has shown leadership is in the very first scene of the movie on the
beaches of Normandy where hundreds of men are being ripped apart. Cpt. Miller
finds his way out of the machine gun fire and gets to a safe point with his
men. He then takes the machine guns and the beach. For the soldiers Cpt. Miller
and the fear of losing their life highly motivated them to take the beach and win
the fight.
F.
Cpt. Miller utilizes his communication skills in
many different ways and he used them to accomplish the vision of the mission. For
example, When Cpt. Miller decides that the troop will attack the Nazi radar
base. Cpt. Miller hears what his men have to say, they soldier are saying just
to skip this radar base and go around it. But, Cpt. Miller doesn’t want to
leave it and wait for the next platoon to get ambushed. Cpt. Miller then sets
up his game plan to take the Nazi base. Everyone has been assigned rolls but Sgt. Horvath questions them, Cpt. Miller then
says
Cpt.
Miller is a leader who will make a positive change and is someone who will
develop your sense of character. There are many instances were Cpt. Miller had
made positive changes to the men in platoon but this is war and in the end the
whole platoon of men ends up dying to save this stranger. Savings this stranger was the whole
goal, mission, and vision of the movie, but all of the men sacrificed their
lives. As you can see in the beginning of the movie where an older Private Ryan
is visiting the graves of the men who fell for him it is clear that he truly recognizes
the sacrifice that these man gave. At first Private Ryan did not want to leave
but in the end when he is old and has a family he realizes that Cpt. Miller and
the men in that platoon saved his life. Cpt. Miller also had turned the boys in
the platoon into men of war . These men put down their lives for their country and fellow men, in this case
Private Ryan.
H.
In
this movie handles stress extremely well. In fact Cpt. Miller is going through
some kind of stress during this whole entire movie. This is World War II and
there is constant danger and hostility everywhere he goes. Even if he is in a
safe area or resting over night he was to go through the pain that he may never
see his wife or get his old life back. There are people dying in just about
every battle that happens and the Cpt. Miller has to deal with it and move on
without have emotion because he’s the leader and he cant let his squad down. He
has to be the strongest man standing there and he is. I cannot list all of the scene were Cpt. Miller has to
overcome and face stress and adversity because it is happening in 95% of the
movie. In my opinion Cpt. Miller is one of the great leaders of all time in t
movies. He is strong and courageous and an excellent leader that relates to men
his and know how to win and get the mission done.
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