The Fog of War teaches the viewer much more than Saving Private Ryan. The two differ majorly because one is a documentary which contains facts and opinions from people who were actually there where the other takes overly exaggerated and patriotic stories and ideas and turns them into a product meant to entertain instead of educate. This does not mean that we cannot learn from them however. The themes portrayed and the values shown were pretty common of the time period. In Saving Private Ryan a platoon searchers for a single soldier to tell him that he may leave and go home. Along the way the platoon shows comradery and bravery. Underneath the very patriotic shell shown, many soldiers would go to great depths to save others.
Also both films to a great job of depicting the hardships and inhumane acts that were commonly seen. Whether it be firebombing entire cities just to inflict civilian casualties or using terrifying weapons on the ground such as flamethrowers to clear bunkers and pill boxes. War isn’t pretty. It’s all about survival and there are no limits on what soldiers can do to defeat the enemy. If that means striking fear into the civilians or into the opposing soldiers themselves.
There are important lessons to be learned about war in both The Fog of War and Saving Private Ryan. These films are important to our understanding of the inner workings of war and the politics that surround it. Other movies also do a great job of adding to our knowledge of the second World War but few do it like these.
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