THROUGH THE LENS: A Comparative Look at Joe Wright's A Darkest Hour & Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan


 This week, as we are working on finalizing our Comparative Studies of film, I thought it might be a worthwhile exercise to look at two very accomplished, perfectionistic directors who LOVE looking at the world and reinterpreting it through the lens in creative, beautiful ways.  In the spotlight of our Blog for Year 1 this month are two sensational films:  Saving Private Ryan and The Darkest Hour, directed by American Master Steven Spielberg and British Visionary Joe Wright.  Let's first take a look at both directors stylistically...

Joe Wright:  In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Joe Wright confessed, "I'm not keen on method actors because I'm a bit of a method director in the sense that I have to feel their emotions, and I have to identify very, very closely with the character and see the world through the same lens as they see the world.  So really, those characters are always an extension of myself."  Wright went on to explain that because of his own methods of working, he had to find similarities between him and Winston Churchill while making the film.  For Wright, his film was not, at its heart, a film about war or the strategy of waging a war, but rather "it's a film about self-doubt." All of us have experienced that.  We connect to it.  So it doesn't matter if its the Prime Minister of England, or a young baseball player walking out to take the mound for the very first time.  We know that feeling.  We know the tension it creates.  We understand these are pivotal moments.  

Wright, who is known for his film adaptations of Atonement, Pride & Prejudice, and Anna Karenina to name a few, went on to say, "Filmmaking is an expression of our soul. It's who we are at the most fundamental level.  It's the closest thing to my essence there is.  I'm not very good at expressing that in other ways.  I'm not very good at talking to people.  I'm not good at dinner parties!  Film is where I allow myself - my vision of the world-- to be revealed" (Interview with Annie Howard, 2017).

Here is a great breakdown of a scene from Wright's masterpiece, The Darkest Hour narrated by Wright, himself, as he walks us through this key moment in the film:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr5mj1imPzc

Here is a "Notes on a Scene" breakdown by Wright, as well, where he talks about lighting and perspective:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk69qBNKr2M

Steven Spielberg:  It's been 22 years since the release of Saving Private Ryan, but few war movies have seized the public imagination as forcefully as Spielberg's acclaimed saga; filmmakers on the big and small screen have been inspired by its unprecedented, unflinching realism.  In an interview with Tom Brokaw of NBC, Tom Hanks explained, "What Steven wanted to do from the get-go was to use all of his magic, and all of the tools that existed in cinema as of 1997, and make a war movie that was going to break every one of the tropes visually and cinematically, that all war movies had."  In the eyes of most critics, the 25-minute set piece that opens Private Ryan (the recreation of the Normandy landing) has become its most influential and lasting contribution to the American movie pantheon.  Spielberg told Brokaw, "We took every inch of that beach--as filmmakers, not as war veterans.  It took us 25 days of shooting to capture 25 minutes of those landings."  The scenes on Omaha Beach were partly recorded on a shaky handheld camera and drenched in sickly shades of green and grey, which gave it raw, gritty honesty.  It was a radical departure from the more stylistically restrained and often sanitized war dramas of the 1950s and 60s.  

Like Wright, Spielberg and his production crew were relentless in their pursuit of historical authenticity. 
Hanks and his co-stars, including Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, and Vin Diesel were put through rigorous boot camp under the command of Marine Captain Dale Dye.  

Spielberg and Hanks hope that the most enduring legacy of Saving Private Ryan is its tough-minded but earnest celebration of the men who gave their lives defending their country and their brothers in arms.

Here in his own words, Steven Spielberg shares his philosophy and inspiration/vision for the pivotal scene in Saving Private Ryan:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuZ7H4ZGI8Y

Here is a great video about the construction of the Normandy Landing Scene:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFpki7v4xiI

Now that you have seen the films and listened to the directors, respond to the blog by addressing the following:

1.  Your evaluation of the signature style of the TWO directors.  Include comments on writing, color, shooting angles, and mise-en-scene.  

2.  Compare/Contrast: What similarities and differences in their styles did you noticed?

In class, we will discuss and share our favorite moments and favorite stylistic choices.

Cheers! 

Comments

  1. Wyatt PerezMarch 14, 2021 at 11:43 PM

    Wright: The film was very clean. There was a realistic vibrance to the colors. The way the film flowed through time was very clever. The sounds and lighting caught my attention the most. There were very detailed sound effects and strategic lighting scenes that made the film more dramatic.

    Spielberg: The camera movement in this film caught me the most as well as the color. The color was dull but realistic it had a sense of olden times but still coherent. The camera movement was my favorite aspect. As I watched I felt as if I was one of the men in his company, I was a soldier watching this all take place. I’m sure it was not a fun/cool experience for the soldiers of cameramen of the time but this recreation was an immersive experience and it was very awesome.

    I noticed many close-up shots in Saving Private Ryan, especially the extremes with the eyes. When Churchill got angry, the camera focused on his outbursts. Both films showed off the talents and flaws of the main characters. The colors had the same realness to them and the props didn’t seem out of place. I light as being more of a priority in Wright's and the way the camera moved as a priority in Spielberg's.

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  2. Carol YoungMarch 15, 2021 at 1:42 PM

    1. Saving Private Ryan: The modern day looks to be more colorful while the past looks to be more monotone with color and tone, possibly because it’s of a war. Quite a few “heroic angles” (angles that make the protags or one side seem heroic), very shaky camera shooting makes it very immersive for the audience. Very good cinematography, and very detailed with the violence. There was a lot of white background lighting which looked heavenly at times.

    Darkest Hour: A lot more colorful, very dramatic lighting. Steady camera in most scenes.

    2. Saving Private Ryan is very gory compared to Darkest Hour, it shows both the horrors and the violence of war. The Darkest Hour shows more of the “behind the scenes” of war.

    ReplyDelete
  3. James HurleyMarch 15, 2021 at 7:16 PM

    Saving Private Ryan was a very Spielberg film, with a very clean but realistic look that kept you ingrained in the action the entire time, taking its colors and cinematography very seriously, especially with the first scene on the normandy beaches. Darkest Hour contrasted very heavily with this film, as it was a much calmer take at the same war, with brighter colors and much more professional camera angles.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMarch 16, 2021 at 6:42 PM

    1. SPR - During many scenes within civilian spaces, the color scheme is much more saturated, especially when compared to the desaturated beige and grays of the wartime sequences. The shaky camera use during these sequences allow the film to seem much more real than it is, which is improved upon by the realistic writing and delivery of the character's lines. Not to mention the mise-en-scene, such as in the mother's home shot, we can see a picture of her four boys together, possibly one of the last times they were all together, displaying the affection that she held for the boys.
    DH - While more intimate places such as the personal home of Churchill and the king's palace exhibit a more saturated color palette, the political places often exhibit much darker and desaturated colors, especially parliament, with every member dressed in black and the only light shining on Churchill. Many close-up shots were used within the movie which allowed for a more intimate relationship between the audience and Churchill, allowing for us to see more of his emotions throughout.

    2. Both directors are focused on exposing the darker underbelly that people tend to overlook when revisiting these historical events, but both do so in drastically different ways. Spielberg focuses heavily on the quick actions and reactions of the battlefield in order to highlight the soldiers' hardships and emotions within the chaos of war, while Wright is much more focused on the slow and methodical thinking required for Churchill's position in relation to the war, and wishes to tell the story more through words then actions.

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