Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called it "as much an experience we live through as a film we watch on screen." He was referring to Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg's 1998 epic re-creation of the D-Day invasion of the Normandy coast and the costly days that followed.
Spielberg was determined to create a World War II film that depicted the actual horrors of combat.
After a brief opening scene, the film plunges the viewer into 20-plus minutes of the chaos, slaughter, and heroism of the U.S. Army Rangers' landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, 81 years ago today. The cinematic landing was actually staged on a stretch of Irish seacoast, where $12 million was invested in crafting a visual representation of what the Rangers encountered in Normandy.
A number of World War II veterans stated that Saving Private Ryan is the most realistic depiction of combat they have ever seen.
Tom Hanks, who starred in the film, as well as the actors who played the soldiers under his command, were compelled to endure 10 days of "boot camp" under the direction of a Marine Corps veteran. Spielberg made it clear that the rigorous experience wasn't to train the actors in proper military techniques, but rather "because I wanted them to respect what it was like to be a soldier."
The director employed about two dozen real-life amputees to depict soldiers who lost limbs on the beach. The D-Day sequence alone required forty barrels of fake blood.
During the filming, Spielberg remembers an aging veteran who approached him with a set of maps. He had been tasked with aiming the big naval guns that would "soften up" the German defenses before the Rangers hit the beach. Many of those shots fell short. Instead of knocking out the Germans, they had created "murder holes" just under the surface of the water, where scores of American soldiers and mechanized vehicles disappeared. The veteran told Spielberg that not a day had gone by during the previous half century in which he had not felt anguish over his role in the invasion. He then rolled his maps back up and walked away.
Such conversations reminded the cast and crew that they were retelling a story that had actually happened.
Tom Allen, who pastors a church in Seattle, is a former Army Ranger. He was deeply moved by the film, especially because it depicts the willingness of soldiers to lay down their lives so that one young man might be able to go back home.
Allen wasn't happy, however, with the film's climactic scene, where Tom Hanks' character, as he dies, whispers to Private Ryan, "Earn this." The movie then fast-forwards to Ryan, now at the end of his days, wondering if he had lived the kind of life worthy of the sacrifices of his colleagues.
.
Allen writes, “No Ranger would ever say, ‘Earn this.’” Why? Because that’s not the Rangers’ motto. The Ranger motto for the past two hundred years has been Sua sponte: “Of [my] own accord,” or essentially, “I am choosing this.” I volunteered for this. You don’t pay anything. I freely give up my life for you.
Whenever we look toward the cross, we will never hear Jesus say, “Earn this. Go out and do the best you can for me, because I did my best for you. Of course, you’ll probably spend the rest of your life feeling overwhelmed with a sense of guilt and obligation, because there’s no way you can ever pay off what I have done for you.” Jesus, in fact, said just the opposite: “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18).
Sua sponte.
Believers are routinely warned not to be taken in by false religions. We tend to picture fleeing from pagan rituals, hideous idols, or “those deluded people” at the other end of the theological spectrum who preach warped ideas concerning certain Greek verbs in the New Testament. But those aren’t the “fake gospels” that are most likely to trip us up.
We’re in far greater danger of believing a Pay-As-You-Go version of the Jesus-following life--perhaps something like, “The Son of God suffered incredibly for you. So, if you have half a heart, you should feel crushed under a lifelong burden of unworthiness and religious obligation that will make repaying student loans seem like a snap.” In that context, will you ever be able to achieve assurance of salvation? Not a chance.
But deep spiritual assurance -–a joyful awareness of God’s unconditional love and favor--is not an achievement. It is a gift--the gift of the One who said on the cross, “It is finished--paid in full” (John 19:30).
On this day in which we remember the ultimate sacrifices that were freely given on our behalf, we can once again take to heart God’s genuine Good News: It is impossible to earn what God gives for free.
*************************************************
Would you like to explore previous reflections, and learn more about this ministry? Check out glennsreflections.com.
Spielberg was determined to create a World War II film that depicted the actual horrors of combat.
After a brief opening scene, the film plunges the viewer into 20-plus minutes of the chaos, slaughter, and heroism of the U.S. Army Rangers' landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, 81 years ago today. The cinematic landing was actually staged on a stretch of Irish seacoast, where $12 million was invested in crafting a visual representation of what the Rangers encountered in Normandy.
A number of World War II veterans stated that Saving Private Ryan is the most realistic depiction of combat they have ever seen.
Tom Hanks, who starred in the film, as well as the actors who played the soldiers under his command, were compelled to endure 10 days of "boot camp" under the direction of a Marine Corps veteran. Spielberg made it clear that the rigorous experience wasn't to train the actors in proper military techniques, but rather "because I wanted them to respect what it was like to be a soldier."
The director employed about two dozen real-life amputees to depict soldiers who lost limbs on the beach. The D-Day sequence alone required forty barrels of fake blood.
During the filming, Spielberg remembers an aging veteran who approached him with a set of maps. He had been tasked with aiming the big naval guns that would "soften up" the German defenses before the Rangers hit the beach. Many of those shots fell short. Instead of knocking out the Germans, they had created "murder holes" just under the surface of the water, where scores of American soldiers and mechanized vehicles disappeared. The veteran told Spielberg that not a day had gone by during the previous half century in which he had not felt anguish over his role in the invasion. He then rolled his maps back up and walked away.
Such conversations reminded the cast and crew that they were retelling a story that had actually happened.
Tom Allen, who pastors a church in Seattle, is a former Army Ranger. He was deeply moved by the film, especially because it depicts the willingness of soldiers to lay down their lives so that one young man might be able to go back home.
Allen wasn't happy, however, with the film's climactic scene, where Tom Hanks' character, as he dies, whispers to Private Ryan, "Earn this." The movie then fast-forwards to Ryan, now at the end of his days, wondering if he had lived the kind of life worthy of the sacrifices of his colleagues.
.
Allen writes, “No Ranger would ever say, ‘Earn this.’” Why? Because that’s not the Rangers’ motto. The Ranger motto for the past two hundred years has been Sua sponte: “Of [my] own accord,” or essentially, “I am choosing this.” I volunteered for this. You don’t pay anything. I freely give up my life for you.
Whenever we look toward the cross, we will never hear Jesus say, “Earn this. Go out and do the best you can for me, because I did my best for you. Of course, you’ll probably spend the rest of your life feeling overwhelmed with a sense of guilt and obligation, because there’s no way you can ever pay off what I have done for you.” Jesus, in fact, said just the opposite: “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18).
Sua sponte.
Believers are routinely warned not to be taken in by false religions. We tend to picture fleeing from pagan rituals, hideous idols, or “those deluded people” at the other end of the theological spectrum who preach warped ideas concerning certain Greek verbs in the New Testament. But those aren’t the “fake gospels” that are most likely to trip us up.
We’re in far greater danger of believing a Pay-As-You-Go version of the Jesus-following life--perhaps something like, “The Son of God suffered incredibly for you. So, if you have half a heart, you should feel crushed under a lifelong burden of unworthiness and religious obligation that will make repaying student loans seem like a snap.” In that context, will you ever be able to achieve assurance of salvation? Not a chance.
But deep spiritual assurance -–a joyful awareness of God’s unconditional love and favor--is not an achievement. It is a gift--the gift of the One who said on the cross, “It is finished--paid in full” (John 19:30).
On this day in which we remember the ultimate sacrifices that were freely given on our behalf, we can once again take to heart God’s genuine Good News: It is impossible to earn what God gives for free.
*************************************************
Would you like to explore previous reflections, and learn more about this ministry? Check out glennsreflections.com.
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