As you can probably guess one of my favourite movies ever is 1998's Saving Private Ryan (see my article from November 2016). As one of the greatest war films ever made it touches upon a range of themes and topics for discussion, from the ideals of duty and patriotism to the realities of war's violence and moral ambiguity. One thing that jumps out at me whenever I'm with someone watching this movie for the first time is their reaction to Corporal Timothy Upham seizing up during the movie's climatic battle in the town of Ramelle and failing to intervene in a hand-to-hand fight which results in his comrade Private Stanley Mellish getting killed by a German soldier's knife. Almost invariably the new viewer criticizes Upham for not climbing those stairs and lifting a finger to rescue Mellish. In a mixture of frustration and disbelief they dismiss Upham as a coward, but personally I've always thought that this was an unfair criticism of this character. Here's why.
We first meet staff assistant Upham as he's being recruited into Captain Miller's squad to serve as their interpreter. Upon hearing that their destination has “a lot of Germans,” the corporal explains that he has no combat experience; in fact he hasn't fired even fired a weapon since his basic training, implying that he never underwent infantry training. Herein lies Upham's biggest weakness: his lack of training makes him ill-prepared for the stress of combat. People often question why boot camp drill instructors are so mean and verbally abusive towards their recruits. Some believe that they're trying to make the recruits into unthinking automatons that will obey any order given. Nothing could be further from the truth. The real reason for this is that the drill instructors are conditioning their recruits to think under pressure, preparing them for the high-stress situations they will have to work under some day. In the movie Jarhead, the Marine drill instructor chides Private Swofford: “You can't think while I'm giving you a few love taps?! How the f--- are you going to fire your rifle when grenades are going off in your face?!” This is the purpose behind live-fire exercises. The more risky and realistic the training, the better-prepared the recruit will be – technically, tactically, and mentally – to handle the danger, chaos, and sheer terror of combat. Without this psychological preparation, the average person's reaction to high-stressed situations will simply be determined by their fight-or-flight instinct.
In addition, proper training and conditioning is what prepares a soldier to kill. To the average person – especially a mid-20th century American – the act of killing somebody is abhorrent and does not come naturally. It is something most people need to be trained into doing. This is summed up in a famous quote by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket: “Your rifle is only a tool. It is the hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth; you will not kill.” Sometimes even infantry training didn't do the trick. There have been multiple post-war studies that concluded that a large percentage of US troops in the Second World War (as well as in Korea and Vietnam) did not shoot to kill; in fact, some never even fired their weapon in battle at all!
In movies it's common for there to be a “new guy” type of character, one who's uninitiated and not used to the environment he/she is now in. It's a tried-and-true method to give the audience someone to identify with, a means through which the viewer can become acquainted with the setting of the story. Timothy Upham is this type of character. Like much of the film's audience he has no combat experience and he is horrified at the events going on around him. Just like with his lack of infantry training, Upham's lack of experience makes it harder for him to handle the stress of battle. War changes you psychologically.
This is demonstrated at around Saving Private Ryan's halfway point in which Miller's squad assaults a lone German machine gun pit, capturing it and taking one prisoner at the cost of their medic, Wade. The other squad members expect to execute the prisoner, nicknamed “Steamboat Willie.” They know they can't bring prisoners with them and they want to kill the German in revenge for Wade but Upham protests, claiming that such a thing would be morally wrong and “against the rules.” It's clear that he still clings to the value of human life and decency. A heated argument ensues, ending with the squad releasing the prisoner even though it endangers their mission. Later on near the film's conclusion Steamboat Willie has rejoined his comrades and takes part in the Battle of Ramelle, delivering a fatal shot to Capt. Miller. Upham – after his breakdown and Mellish's death – captures Willie, recognizes him, and then shoots him dead. By now Upham has learned that soldiers in war must be ruthless when faced with tough decisions. He now knows what it means to be a soldier in combat. He is a changed man.
Unfortunately the change came too late to save Private Mellish because Corporal Upham couldn't work up the nerve to intervene in the knife fight. It is true that is was a failure on Upham's part, but to only focus on this one scene would be unfair when you consider all the other things he did during this battle. Throughout the battle at Ramelle Upham supplies ammunition to the machine gunners as they shift position. To do so this untrained staff clerk has to run through German machine gun fire as well as dodge tank fire while buildings are being blown up all around him. He witnesses his comrades – men braver and more experienced than him – get shot apart and literally blown to pieces. He wasn't expecting to go through any of this stuff, and yet he maintains his composure. But he can only take so much; it's only when he hears the sounds of a savage hand-to-hand fight going on upstairs that he finally cracks under the stress and is unable to go on any further.
It may be easy to curse out this character for not having the fortitude to intervene in a fight to save a life, but how many of us have been in the same situation? Corporal Upham, a man who wasn't prepared nor expecting to go through combat, just wanted to live. Is that any different from your ordinary movie-goer?
Was Timothy Upham wrong for not saving Stanley Mellish? Yes he was, but I implore you: don't be too quick to judge.
