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Message
Saving Private Ryan - Corporal Upham
Posted on 2/23/18 at 8:41 pm
Posted on 2/23/18 at 8:41 pm
Strange character, he refused to kill Steamboat Willie, then kills him in the end. However, he is too afraid to go up those stairs and save Mellish, which he could have easily done since Mellish was on the floor with the German guy fighting.
I’ve just never quite understood the character.
I’ve just never quite understood the character.
12
Posted on 2/23/18 at 8:48 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
quote:
I’ve just never quite understood the character.
He was a soft natured, dorky guy. What's not to understand?
Posted on 2/23/18 at 8:59 pm to ChewyDante
I get that. I guess I just wondered if there was some deeper purpose to having a character like him.
Posted on 2/23/18 at 9:04 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
Am I the only one that thought when Mellish got stabbed it looked really really bad?
This post was edited on 2/23/18 at 9:10 pm
Posted on 2/23/18 at 9:22 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
quote:
I get that. I guess I just wondered if there was some deeper purpose to having a character like him.
I assumed it was just to show the cross section of war. Everyone was drafted and not everyone is necessarily well suited or adapted for the harshness and brutality of war. Through Upham they were able to demonstrate terror, horror, compassion, sympathy, etc.
He also experienced a change in the final battle. He'd lost some if his innocence and sympathy and grew hardened through the experience of the battle. He stood in contrast to the other guys who were all battle hardened prior to their introduction on screen.
Posted on 2/23/18 at 10:41 pm to ChewyDante
Dude should've been nominated for an Oscar. Hell of a performance.
Posted on 2/23/18 at 10:43 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
He was a good representation of what we used to refer-to as our Company Conscience.
One in every Company and, for some reason, they are usually one of the most likeable guys around yet ...
They always get their buddies killed while they are trying to figure-out the bullshite in their nuggets. Everyone puts up with them because you're never quite sure if they're right or not.
It's, he's, part of the human paradox, the human delima. As a species we're one big fricking conundrum.
That's why we need borders in every aspect of our lives ... lines you just don't cross, because without boundaries we're all screwed.
His character exemplified that. I think that's what the writers and director meant to evoke ... they meant for us to ask ourselves, who crossed the line and what were the consequences?
One in every Company and, for some reason, they are usually one of the most likeable guys around yet ...
They always get their buddies killed while they are trying to figure-out the bullshite in their nuggets. Everyone puts up with them because you're never quite sure if they're right or not.
It's, he's, part of the human paradox, the human delima. As a species we're one big fricking conundrum.
That's why we need borders in every aspect of our lives ... lines you just don't cross, because without boundaries we're all screwed.
His character exemplified that. I think that's what the writers and director meant to evoke ... they meant for us to ask ourselves, who crossed the line and what were the consequences?
This post was edited on 2/23/18 at 10:45 pm
Posted on 2/23/18 at 10:43 pm to hg
As in badly filmed and acted?
It’s hard to watch that scene.
It’s hard to watch that scene.
Posted on 2/23/18 at 11:23 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
quote:
I guess I just wondered if there was some deeper purpose to having a character like him.
Spielberg used him as a metaphor. Upham represented America failing to act while Germany murdered millions of Jews (Mellish) in the Holocaust.
He used the same image in Schindler’s List with the girl in the red dress.
Posted on 2/24/18 at 11:19 am to ellunchboxo
That scene destroys me every time. Absolutely brutal.
Posted on 2/24/18 at 12:30 pm to ellunchboxo
It looked like his body was in the floor so they could pull off him getting stabbed.
But yes it’s pretty damn sad
But yes it’s pretty damn sad
This post was edited on 2/24/18 at 12:31 pm
Posted on 2/24/18 at 12:48 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
Upham is the Broward County Sheriff Department’s unofficial mascot.
Posted on 2/24/18 at 4:56 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
Posted on 2/24/18 at 7:42 pm to bluestem75
quote:Pretty much agree. He was over the top good in Breaking Bad. Edit: meant Justified. My bad.
Dude should've been nominated for an Oscar. Hell of a performance.
This post was edited on 3/13/18 at 6:35 pm
Posted on 2/24/18 at 9:11 pm to BigOrangeVols
quote:
That scene destroys me every time. Absolutely brutal.
Yeah..that was really bad. I would guess because it was pretty realistic...trying to get the guy to stop when he knew he couldn’t stop him.....uggghh...
Posted on 2/24/18 at 9:12 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
Life and death situations are terrifying. War is terrifying. Witnessing death is traumatizing. Killing people is not easy. You can criticize him all you want, but the vast majority of people would have reacted the exact same way that he did. They would have frozen up and not had it in them to actually kill another person. In fact many US soldiers didn't even shoot to kill in WWII. A person has to have these things conditioned into them. A very small minority of people are born with an ability to do them without a lot of of training and conditioning. Upham is changed, and really dehumanized, by his experiences over the course of the movie to where he is finally able to function in his role as a soldier.
People who are critical of Upham or don't understand him are naive to what a horribly awful thing war is.
People who are critical of Upham or don't understand him are naive to what a horribly awful thing war is.
Posted on 2/24/18 at 11:14 pm to bluestem75
quote:yep, especially when he comes home to backwoods Kentucky.
Dude should've been nominated for an Oscar. Hell of a performance.
Posted on 2/25/18 at 10:25 am to Roll Tide Ravens
He's arguably the protagonist of SPR.
Posted on 2/25/18 at 3:19 pm to Roll Tide Ravens
quote:
Steamboat Willie
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