Line #4 NightmareFuel/SavingPrivateRyan


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/normandy_8.png]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[{{Understatement}} "That's quite a view."]]]]''
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7	'''WARNING: Spoilers Off applies to Nightmare Fuel pages.'''
8
9	NightmareFuel from ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''.
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11	* The Omaha Beach opening. It does not shy away from setting the WarIsHell tone immediately, and has become the film's SignatureScene for its unflinching, realistic brutality, in no small part thanks to the following scenes:
12	** Captain Miller's HeroicBSOD. With a drop of the frame rate and the sound of the battle reducing into white noise, we're placed right into Miller's shock-stricken POV as he watches his troops getting cut down mercilessly. There's a shot of one soldier without his weapon, on the verge of tears, curling up behind the only cover he can find. There's another of a soldier wandering the beach in a daze, looking for his severed arm. Just before the sound comes back in, a private is screaming at Miller, "What now, sir?!" It serves to set how utterly horrific the rest of the scene is.
13	** One poor soldier has [[{{Gorn}} had his guts splattered from his stomach]]. As he's dying, the only thing he can do is call out "''[[IWantMyMommy Momma! MOMMA!]]''" before screaming at the very top of his lungs in extreme agony.
14	** After a flamethrower sets the German bunker on fire, several German soldiers scramble out on fire. An American soldier calls out "[[PayEvilUntoEvil Don't shoot!]] [[KillItWithFire Let 'em burn!]]" Yikes.
15	** The entire beach was one giant "murder hole". The utter failure to provide air or armor cover left the infantry completely out to dry on those beachheads.
16	** Those soldiers running into the battlefield ''[[ManOnFire on fire]].'' It's so utterly surreal.
17	** [[FacialHorror The unfortunate radioman]] next to Captain Miller on Omaha Beach. When Miller pulls him over to issue another command, the guy's face is completely gone.
18	** Several men graphically drown in the water due to their gear packs weighing them down, while trying to get them off.
19	** The two "German" soldiers who are shot while trying to surrender. It is a hard scene, but then [[FridgeHorror you learn]] [[BilingualBonus what they are saying,]] and realize that the American soldiers shot them both for nothing.
20	--->Please don't shoot me! I am not German, I am Czech! I didn't kill anyone, I am Czech!
21	*** TruthInTelevision: Around 50% of the Wehrmacht troops defending on D-day were not Germans but ''Ostlegionen'' troops, essentially glorified SlaveMooks conscripted from Eastern Europe (mostly Soviet or Polish [=POW=]s).
22	** While at the beachhead, a soldier has his shoulder graphically shot open, screaming in agony while Wade tries to stop the bleeding. His screaming is terrifying even to the other soldiers. It doesn't help that the camera zooms in right up to his torn, profusely-bleeding wound.
23	--->'''Soldier:''' Oh God, it hurts! We're all gonna die! Oh my God! My arm! ''Oh Jesus! I'm gonna die!''\
24	'''Wade:''' You're not gonna die! You're not gonna die! You're fine! ''Just don't look at it!''
25	** One of the landing craft unknowingly drops its ramp right in front of a machine gun nest. Every man aboard is slaughtered in a matter of seconds without as much as touching the sand.
26	** [[{{Creator/JamesDoohan}} James "Scotty" Doohan]] was a D-Day vet who lost his right middle finger and was shot during the operation. In an interview, when asked about the D-Day sequence of this movie, he remarked "Yes, that's exactly what it was like." And then remember that the opening scene was a CompressedAdaptation. What we get in the movie lasts thirty minutes. It took ''three hours'' to capture the beach in real life.
27	*** Bear in mind, Doohan was in the [[UsefulNotes/CanucksWithChinooks Canadian Artillery]], who landed on Juno Beach, where the battle went more successfully than the bloody debacle that ensued with the American landings at Omaha Beach. Which, in turn, means that the reality for the Omaha Beach troops was probably even ''worse'' than the film depicts.
28	** When they finally reach the pillbox, one of the soldiers catches a ricochet in his helmet and survives unscathed. Everyone is astounded, calling him a lucky bastard. Shocked, he takes off his helmet to look at the bullet impact -- leaving him completely vulnerable to the next bullet, which catches him directly in the forehead and kills him instantly.
29	*** Though a [=WW2=]-era helmet would not have been sufficient to stop a full-power Mauser bullet (7.92x57mm Mauser) at that range and angle so the soldier would have been screwed anyway.
30	** At the end of it all, dozens of bodies are lying near the shores of what is now essentially ''a sea of blood'', with the bodies of both men and ''fish'' washing up on shore, in utter, lifeless silence. Just so that the filmmakers can punctuate once more...'''''WarIsHell'''''.
31	--->''"That's quite a view."''
32	** Probably the worst part about the entire opening is that the landings were ultimately ''successful''. So the bloody mess that we just saw was still '''the best possible outcome.''' That is the reality of the Normandy Invasion; waves of men had to die assaulting defenses built specifically to kill them to secure those beaches. And the ones that lived still had to look upon all that carnage to really understand what had happened.
33	*** Part of why it was such a carnage was because of a series of failures. [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy Naval artillery and aerial bombardment mostly missed]], so they inflicted minimal damage on German defenses, while most of the amphibious tanks that were supposed to provide support sank or were quickly destroyed. The troops had to run into the face of machineguns and mortars with nothing to back them up except their own numbers.
34	* The sound of the approaching Tiger tank was accurate enough to give many veterans in the audience flashbacks.
35	* The messy results of when the Germans use a [[{{BFG}} 20mm]] [[AntiAir anti-aircraft cannon]] with explosive rounds on [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill exposed infantry]]. You could argue the guy who got his [[YourHeadAsplode head blown off]] at least didn't suffer, the rest actually ''survive'' getting hit and have [[AnArmAndALeg entire limbs torn off]] or are hit in the abdomen, which would utterly [[BodyHorror scramble their insides beyond saving]], so they can only [[CruelAndUnusualDeath writhe or walk in absolute agony while screaming]]. The German soldiers who killed them a few seconds later were being ''[[MercyKill merciful]]''.
36	* Not to mention when the American soldiers are trying to disable or destroy the incoming German vehicles with handmade {{Sticky Bomb}}s. One of them goes off prematurely, before it can be attached to the target, and the unfortunate infantryman carrying it basically [[NotEnoughToBury ceases to exist]] in an instant.
37	* There's also the scene where Mellish gets into a hand-to-hand fight with an SS soldier, and ''loses'', with the German overpowering him with his knife sinking the blade slowly into Mellish's chest as he convulses and gasps and then goes limp as his life leaves him.
38	** Just before the end, the otherwise tough-as-nails GI starts frantically pleading to the German: "LISTEN TO ME! STOP! STOP! NO, NO, DON'T!" and it's harrowing to hear as he likely knows full well that he cannot muster the strength in his arm to keep pushing the knife up any longer and that unless a miracle happens then he's going to die horribly in the upstairs room of a house far from home with his childhood, his parents, perhaps a girl back home, flashing before his eyes -- and of course, the miracle never happens and there is no BigDamnHeroes moment coming from Upham ''standing just outside the door''. There are plenty of gory, nasty and unpleasant deaths in this film but for sheer despairing helplessness, nothing beats the dread of this one.
39	** The drawn-out death even [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything plays out like a rape scene]]. You have the focus on the blade, the sound of ripping fabric giving way to a wet slip noise as the knife sinks in, Mellish's futile pleading, and the German getting close enough to kiss him and softly whispering for him to just stop fighting and let him get it over with. It's all so incredibly creepy.
40	--->''"Give up! You have no chance, let's end this! [...] It's much easier for you, it's much easier for you. You'll see, it will be over quickly. Shhh ... Shhh ..."''
41	** As Mellish dies, the soldier can be seen drooling as he shoves the knife deep in his enemy. Nazis really ''are'' crazed animals.
42	** Even worse, the SS soldier immediately encounters Upham as he leaves the room ... [[NotWorthKilling and simply walks past him]], down the stairs, as Upham lies totally powerless in terror. The sheer emotional tension going on in the scene is bone-chilling.
43	** Upham was just a few meters away during the fight, and despite hearing them struggle, was too frightened to go help. Mellish was also desperately calling the other guy who was with him for help the whole time, not aware that he was already dying[=/=]dead. [[BilingualBonus If you understand German]], you'll know his attacker was going the same while grappling Mellish -- calling out to his comrades to help him out (but they've all been killed and he doesn't realize it in the fog of a desperate fight).
44	** Oh, and that "other" guy? He's trying to breathe through a throat that just got shot open by a machine gun before eventually bleeding out. There's even a moment where Mellish and the German roll over him in their melee.
45	* Miller and Co inspect a pile of dog tags of KIA soldiers, to see if Ryan's among them. The sheer size of the pile is pretty sobering, every one means another Mother is going to get a telegram..... and then they find the pair with the ''bullet hole'' through them.
46	** Those telegrams didn't write themselves. After D-Day we see a closeup of a couple of women typing out those letters in a office. Then we see its a room with a hundred women typing them out around the clock.
47	* Any of the battle scenes in the film could qualify. The filmmakers did a really good job of showing you how terrifying and dangerous battlefields are.
48	* Jackson's death. He's sniping soldiers left and right, and has an open-topped Marder completely pinned down. Then he sees it: The remaining Marder tank destroyer has found his position and '''''[[YouAreAlreadyDead is elevating its main gun on him]].''''' He barely has time to yell to his partner to get down before they're both killed. Even though it's quick, there's a shot of the side of his head ''caving in'' as the 75mm shell hits point-blank.
49	-->'''''"PARKER, GET DOOOOWWWN--"'''''
50	* The sight of Horvath [[DiesWideOpen lying dead with his eyes open]] is quite unsettling.
51	* Mrs. Ryan, spotting the car with the star on it on the way up to the house, and then waiting for them to come and tell her which of her sons are dead. She knows they'd send a telegram normally, so if they're coming in person it's surely more than one. Probably more than two. Just have to wait to find out...
52	* Irwin Wade goes out on a TearJerker, but his death is almost as disturbing. As Miller's team describes, the bullets went ''through'' his spine, specifically the small of it - the acorn-sized holes enough to cause massively bleeding wounds that, even as he lays on his back, ''continues pouring out more and more'' and winding up ''soaking'' his crew's hands in his blood. And then, much later on in the scene, Wade finally realizes how bad the bullet wounds ''really'' are - '''his liver was punctured, and he can feel it.''' Wade was already dead before he actually stopped breathing. With no hope to survive, he then asks his team to overdose him on morphine; because he was already a dead man breathing, and that the pain was so ''horrid'' that he couldn't take any more. And so the medic dies, whimpering for his mama - terrified, and in unimaginable agony. '''Holy hell.'''
53	** How terrifying is it to be shot at, and only realize several moments later that one bullet got into one of your vital organs? At first it may seem like it was just severe pain. You're shivering and barely able to speak, [[HopeSpot but that's just the shock of it, right?]] Your body just needs to slow down and reel from the damage, it was just a flesh wound, odds are. Then suddenly, you can feel ''something'' specific deep in your torso, hurting severely. You're feeling something that should ''not'' be hurting far, far worse than the bullet wounds in your gut...until suddenly you realize why...
54	-->'''"Oh my God, ''IT'S IN MY LIVER!''"'''
55	* While the scene with Horvath and a SS soldier tossing their helmets at each other can be funny, it also further relays how desperate these soldiers are in battle. To come face to face with an enemy in the middle of combat can instantly get you on a fight-or-flight setting - and so you do ''damn well anything'' to incapacitate the target and get the upper hand, if just to survive long enough to shoot said target. These aren't unfeeling warriors - but humans. Mortal, terrified men.
56	* Upham realizes that the guy Miller spared ended up killing Cpt. Miller. The moment he notices that, he instantly switches from his cowardly whimpering to a state of TranquilFury and simply makes sure he knows what he did before blowing him away. Within seconds, Upham's complete personality has shattered.

Context NightmareFuel / SavingPrivateRyan