During World War II, eight American GIs fight their way through D-Day carnage to find a private who lost his three brothers in combat.

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Overview

Simply surviving the deadly D-Day beaches was miraculous enough. Now eight American GIs have been ordered to navigate the post-invasion chaos to find and save paratrooper Private James F. Ryan. The mission to find Ryan, who lost three brothers during a brief period of combat, is like “finding a needle in a stack of needles.” The GIs struggle to maintain their sanity and humanity throughout the perilous mission.

This study will help you discuss the themes developing between Saving Private Ryan’s intense, graphic, and prolonged combat scenes. How do the GIs react when carnage overwhelms them, takes the lives of courageous friends, and sometimes spares the undeserving? How do they cope with a mission that endangers all their lives for the sake of one man they’ve never met? And how can anyone maintain mercy and decency when evil abounds?

Discussion Guide

    • Movie Summary

    • Discussing the Scenes *Bonus Material: DVD Scenes to Watch*

—Limits to Mercy and Decency
(Matthew 6:14–15; 18:21–35)

—Sacrificing for Others
(2 Samuel 11:2–17; Romans 3:22–24; 5:6–8)

—Responding to Overwhelming Chaos
(1 Samuel 17:41-49; Mark 14:66–72)

Based On

Saving Private Ryan (DreamWorks, 1998), directed by Steven Spielberg, rated R.

Photo © Copyright DreamWorks

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