On Wed, 12 Aug 1998, valis wrote: > > I want to focus on one Upham-event. During the battle to hold the bridge, > in an upstairs room a desperate seesaw drama of hand-to-hand combat ends > with a German soldier slowly plunging a bayonet into one of the Ryan > detachment. Upham, who has been militarily dysfunctional for about ten > minutes, is squatting halfway up the stairs in some state of immobility. > Descending the stairs, the German casts Upham a quick appraising glance > and passes him as he might pass a palsied beggar on a city street, > although Upham is holding a carbine and is swathed in ammo belts. > Why did he do this? Had he gotten his fill of killing just before, > in that struggle? And he had been saying something to his opponent, > in frenetic German, over and over: was it standard Nazi invective > or "Stop, just go limp; I don't really want to kill you"? > In "statement" movies, a whole suite of ideas must sometimes be conveyed > symbolically, in the actions of individuals. Was this such a case? Valis, The german who looked disgustedly at Upham was the same soldier who was digging the grave earlier in the film. Upham talked with him and insisted that it "wouldn't be right" to kill him when he was a prisoner of war. I think that was the reason for the scene you recounted. Frances
