Saving Private Ryan was on TV last night, and I watched it. There is this one scene towards the end...oh yeah
*SPOILER*
Where Upham is waiting downstairs while the two soldiers fight upstairs with the German soldier that managed to shoot one in the neck and render it a one on one fight, since they were mostly out of ammo. This scene gets to me, I purposefully miss it because it really gets to me. No I don't cry, I cringe and get weak kneed over this scene with the American Soldier getting stabbed.
When he first grabbed the youth knife at Omaha Beach, I as a History Major felt repulsed and sick when seeing the jewish soldier look and cry over one of the most cold hearted, specific killing devices in history. And to have the enemy take it from you and then stab you in the heart makes me lose all sense of calm. For all the history, all the frustration, all the anger towards Holocaust deniers, this scene gets to me. I felt helpless last night while watching it, slowly seeing the soldier die as the German soldier plunged deeper.
It is scenes like these that have such secret messages portrayed professionally by directors that really immortalize elements of the human condition we must face. Life is sacred, but by the way the German Soldier whispered to the Jew as if to justify himself, while also showing the savage appeasing of Hitler's era really questions our humanity.
This film will always be one of the most influential movies of my life for that one scene capturing my endless struggle to give humanity a better reputation.
