The Narrative of Nine: Tom Hanks Movies
How nine movies from the filmography of Tom Hanks helped get me through the year of 2020
Thursday, November 21, 2019 - A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
Pain consumed my thoughts when I stepped out of the car, or when I stepped anywhere, for that matter. Though the feeling did not start from a psychological place, it was creeping into that category with each and every ache. I was 18, for goodness sakes. It made matters worse to know I should not be experiencing such a feeling at that age. Nevertheless, it was no mystery as to how I got to that place. The physical activity of weight lifting put the blame right back to myself. It had become more habitual, a process I underwent because, well, it was part of the routine. Straining myself had its benefits, yes, but just as present were the inevitable moments of improper technique.
I had no reason to cast blame on the weights. I put it all on myself, as the one who lifted them without the proper care and attention. It is safe to say my mind was not in the best place this particular evening. It was the first time I remembered struggling to find enthusiasm for a moviegoing experience. It definitely was for a movie I had been wanting to see for quite some time. The other members of my immediate family shared my initial wish to see A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. So much so that we drove longer, just to watch the film’s early release, before our local theater made it available the following day. Instead of anticipation for the film, my backache was what my mind obsessed over during most of the half-hour trip to the theater.
It is never a great thing to be distracted going into a movie-watching experience at the theater. I was aware of this as I walked in and knew there was a risk of a distorted view of the movie. What I failed to remember was how an avenue of distraction is one of the most vital components of going to the movie theater in the first place. The moment’s physical and mental obsession was no match for the larger than life presentation of moving pictures and a compelling story. At the center of it in A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is Tom Hanks, starring as the iconic children’s TV personality, Fred Rogers, most notably known as “Mr. Rogers.” The sense of calm and care represented by Rogers has served generations of people, both young and old. While the movie was not a full-fledged biopic of Fred Rogers, it had an even better impact by covering a specific moment in his life. It was a time where the very best of himself had the power to spread and ultimately transform another individual.
Initially feeling the heavy baggage of cynicism was the character who eventually experienced the power of Fred Rogers’s pure goodness. Though it took hindsight to realize this, I also was dealing with some cynical hurdles of my own. My doubts toward the power of cinema and its powerful force of distraction was a definite source of those obstacles. Even if the character’s struggles were far more complex than mine, my over-exaggerated feeling put me on a similar page. From this, I was better suited to empathize with the clearly misguided way the character handled his circumstances. When they eventually came around to benefiting from the Mr. Rogers encounter, I felt as though I, too, had felt the pull of Fred's aura of positivity.
My thoughts were gently guided into a more peaceful space by experiencing A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood in the theater. I was very glad to have witnessed yet another Oscar-nominated Tom Hanks performance on the grandest stage. Had he not replicated the Mr. Rogers character in a realistically natural manner, I am sure my newfound headspace would have been short-lived. Instead, I left the theater and headed to our parked car with the thought of “Tom Hanks is such a great actor!” This was verbalized to my family as we left and a discussion around his past work began in earnest.
As the chat around his legendary filmography progressed, my parents clearly had a more substantial connection to his career. In thinking of it, I was amazed to realize how his performance in A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood was the only live-action one I had ever seen. Being aware of Hanks’ work and A-list stature was just scratching the surface of appreciating his skill as a performer. Devoting the time to sit down and immerse myself in a story he was part of telling was the only way to appropriately do so. Selfishly, the feeling of relief from my refreshed outlook was a major factor in deciding to indoctrinate myself in his career. The first step in doing so occurred the following morning when, during my workday lunch break, I typed “Tom Hanks books” in the Amazon product search page. I was less than a year into my rebirth as an active reader for pleasure. It had become natural for me to seek out subjects that piqued my interest. From that , there was a willingness to invest the resources to purchase the books, and the time to read them.
I came across one that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. It was a biography titled, The World According to Tom Hanks: The Life, the Obsessions, the Good Deeds of America’s Most Decent Guy. With one half of the book centered around his personal life and background, the other gave a movie-by-movie breakdown of his filmography up to the year of 2018. With Christmas less than a month away from that point, the book was the first item on my list. Officially starting the book coincided with the new year and a routine was developed to read it. As a freshman in college, my spring semester was set to begin the second week of January and my daily class schedule began at 9:30 a.m. As an early riser, accustomed to classes at 8:00 a.m., I would be able to take my time in getting the day started. Reading The World According to Tom Hanks was a very enjoyable way to do that.
As the first month of 2020 and my spring semester progressed, I neared the end of the book and reached the portion of his filmography coverage. Having never seen a majority of the performances I was reading about, the way in which they were described built a high level of enthusiasm to change that.
Sunday, January 5, 2020 - Golden Globe Awards
Just before my literary introduction to Hank’s wide range of work commenced, there was a more brief and completely visual one. Coming off his performance as Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, it was a busy awards season for Hanks, who earned both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor. While there was no guarantee for Hanks to step on stage to accept that award, which Brad Pitt ultimately did, there was something even more impactful waiting for Tom Hanks. As the 2020 recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille award, Hanks would be honored not just for one amazing performance, but a career full of them. The award, which is meant to highlight a performer’s outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment, signifies a sense of longevity and impact., both of which Tom Hanks has embodied as well as any other recipient. This portion of the ceremony was the main reason I chose to tune in to the ceremony. By doing so, I was schooled on an impressive slate of films, shows, and performers from the year of 2019. The education continued and became even more enjoyable when it came time to honor Tom Hanks. With the help of a three minute montage of some top moments in each of his films, I was enthralled. Its orchestral score added another layer of depth to the different emotions he portrayed in each clip. It made every moment in the montage seem as if it were a climactic moment in those films.
The glimpse into each movie, though it lasted only a few seconds, had me dialed in and wanting more from the characters Hanks played. My fascination continued and grew even more when Tom Hanks took the stage and gave his acceptance speech. The manner in which he spoke was full of appreciation for a life and career he clearly loved with all his heart. It was evident that every part of himself was given to those roles he played. In my pursuit to view each one, I knew I would be in for a treat.
Friday, January 31, 2020 - Catch Me If You Can
With new knowledge toward the background of Tom Hanks, I became even more impressed with the kind of career he carved out for himself. His triumph from the common struggles for a young actor was all thanks to his unmistakable level of passion for the craft of storytelling. What can be deemed as more uncommon, as it relates to many in the Hollywood industry, are his good-spirited qualities as a human being. Since The World According to Tom Hanks covered this personal realm of his life first, my investment in him as a human being was established from the book’s opening pages. He became more than just a famous name or face when I was given a glimpse into his human qualities. My appreciation for Tom Hanks, the man, grew as I progressed through this portion of the book.
By the time I reached the second half of it, which focused on the films and the character(s) he played in each one, I was all-in. Though I recognized several of the film titles as part of our societal lexicon, and was even familiar with their synopsis, the diversity of his roles is what stood out to me. To begin the process of seeing his work in full, I went to Netflix and searched “Tom Hanks” to see if any of his work was available on that platform. Appearing first was the poster for the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can. The image of Hanks’ character chasing after the one played by the great, Leonardo Dicaprio, was not what caught my eye at first. Instead, it was the words “leaving soon” highlighted in red, just under the movie title’s position on the poster. “Soon” in this case meant the very next day, which happened to be the final one in January.
With the 31st being a Friday, it was the ideal opportunity to watch Catch Me If You Can just in time. From the moment it began playing, I was hooked. Its jazzy score, composed by the legendary John Williams, was the background to an entertaining opening credit sequence. Featuring a cartoon outline of the two main characters, it accurately depicted the constant chase through various stages of life, which Dicaprio’s character cons his way through. As if the movie did not have enough credibility established with its two A-list main characters, the opening credits concluded with “directed by Steven Spielberg” flashing across the screen. This was going to be fun. Not only was the tone set in the opening credits, both visually and musically, it was kept from the movie’s beginning to end and continuously built up to that point.
Beyond the flashy scenery on the screen, however, there was a deeper, more troubling narrative under the surface for the movie’s two prominent characters. Similar to A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Tom Hank’s character was not the lead. It is another supporting role for him, albeit, a prominent one that is close to a 1B instead of a number 2, behind Dicaprio’s clearly-defined 1A position. While Hank’s FBI agent character is in pursuit of the con-artist, played by Dicaprio, it becomes clear how each character is after something more complex. For DiCaprio's character, Frank Abagnale, it is the sense of escape from turmoil in his family life and the desire of validation. For agent Carl Hanratty, played by Hanks, he craves something akin to this in the professional realm of life. So much so that his personal one loses position as his top priority. The wish to professionally prove himself, by catching the elusive Frank Abagnale, becomes an obsession to him.
In the two months after my experience with A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, I did more than read and learn about Tom Hanks. As an 18-year-old, I was continuing to do the same thing for myself. This exploration came through my own professional endeavors, which was also in the world of creativity, though at a much smaller scale. Self-publishing my first novel and promoting it for others was an exciting venture. Part of making it such was the sense of notoriety associated with any form of promotion. While it was for the book, and the story I told between its covers, my name was on the front one and my photo was on the back. Simply put, there was a lot of “me.”
By putting myself out there creatively, I was exposed to the opinions of other people. Some of these individuals were those I knew l, but there were many others I did not. To see the positive reception became an intoxicating feeling, making the initial leap of writing a book well worth doing. As time went by and the “congratulations” flowed with every interaction I had, my mind began to reassess the true meaning behind them. Was it for the work itself, or the idea of having done the work of writing a book? A certain level of insecurity crept into my thoughts with those questions. Without any clear answer, I felt its impact in my approach to promoting my work. My concerns were centered around my self-image and the lack of confidence in my abilities.
In watching Catch Me If You Can, this dilemma was fresh on my mind, especially after taking part in a book-related speaking engagement a few hours before watching the film. Its representation of doubt-based obsessions were recognized from my perspective as a viewer, especially as someone who was dealing with those of my own. Helping me face the possibility of their negative consequences was the external destruction they caused in the movie. While such thoughts start as an internal battle fought within, it eventually seeps out to impact those around us. Though this kind of wake up call was an entertaining one to consume as a viewer of Catch Me If You Can, I had no way of preparing myself for another one, which would be much less enjoyable. Nearly 6 weeks later, it would introduce itself to all of society.
Thursday, March 12, 2020
After a few weeks of an increased spread around the world, the coronavirus pandemic suddenly hit home. As more and more Americans were infected on U.S. soil, one of its most beloved members announced their diagnosis. When Tom Hanks and his wife disclosed this information, shock waves were sent and spread just as quickly as the virus was starting to do. In those early stages of the pandemic’s existence, the many unknowns made it easy to think of the worst possible scenarios about Hanks’s prognosis. How serious was this? Was he going to die? In light of the recent discovery I made, regarding what makes Tom Hanks great as both an actor and a person, such questions were hard for me to contemplate. Knowing that my indoctrination to his body of work was just beginning, it pained me to wonder, was this really the end for a true national treasure? Thankfully, it was not the end of Tom Hanks, who made a full recovery. It was, however, just the beginning of an extended period of social distancing and, for me, the time to immerse myself in one of the best screen acting careers there has been.
1990s:
Sleepless in Seattle / You’ve Got Mail
The approach of choosing two Tom Hanks movies from three different decades was very easy when looking at the 1990s. While this period did include Hanks at his career peak, earning him two consecutive academy awards amid his run of classic films, two of them were in close relation to one another. Among his amazing selection of diverse filmography in this run of 90s success came a wide range of characters to often lead each movie. While their genres usually varied, the one of romantic comedy was seen in two prominent films of this decade. Tying the knot of familiarity even tighter is the fact that both movies happened to feature Meg Ryan as the co-lead with Hanks. Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail may be two of the same genre-wise, but the characters portrayed by Hanks in each film are vastly different when viewers meet them.
In Sleepless, Hanks plays Sam Baldwin, a widower who, along with his young son, deals with the absence of both a wife and mother figure in their family unit. Baldwin’s somber outlook is unmistakable and understandable in the beginning stages of the film. Viewers can see his display of despondence in all areas of his life represented on screen. For Tom Hanks as an actor, there is a perfect balance of maintaining an active presence as a father and professional, despite this circumstance of loss. Even though many of his key emotions are inaccessible, he never fails to dig deep and find those a young son needs from his father. As a viewer, I never interpreted this as an obligation Sam Baldwin had to do, but a role he willingly did with an open heart. Though it may have been a broken one, there is clear evidence of its existence.
When Baldwin finds himself live on the air of a radio call-in show, his vulnerability pours out in a raw display of emotional honesty. The well-performed monologue from Tom Hanks brings the character’s broken heart to the surface in a subdued manner. From this, I could deeply feel Baldwin’s longing for love, along with my growing levels of sympathy. It became clear how others in the film, who happened to hear him live as it unfolded, felt the same way. Meg Ryan’s character, Annie Reed, was among them and became transfixed on Baldwin’s every word.
I can confidently believe her facial expression of amazement and heartbreak mirrored my own when I watched this scene. While the feelings of Annie Reed came from her own complicated relational standing, mine were solely based in the difficult times thrust upon society as a whole. As a pandemic spread throughout our nation and the world at large, the sense of despair was palpable. While social distancing was maintained, it was hard to separate from its harsh impact on those from which we were supposed to stay away. Upping the importance to do so, and the dire nature of those times, was the factor of health risks at the forefront. It was a pandemic, after all, and its infectious nature left countless individuals without more than their usual routines. For many, it took the people who were involved in them. It is safe to say that, as a viewer, watching Hanks’ initial despondency on screen was a close imitation to life as it was in March of 2020. As the film’s narrative progresses, Sam Baldwin follows suit with a pace he deems best. Even though there is inevitable discomfort associated with healing, the grace in which Tom Hanks represents this process helped prove its possibility, even amid life’s heartbreakingly tragic moments.
In a matter of a few days after watching Sleepless in Seattle, I deemed it appropriate to follow it with another Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan rom-com partnership, seen in You’ve Got Mail. Coming 5 years after Sleepless, the film features Hanks as Joe Fox, a wealthy business owner of a family-run chain bookstore. Despite the professional success, there is a certain level of discontent bleeding over from a once intimate personal relationship grown stale. The shrewd nature of his business persona is easy for Joe Fox to access in reaction to this circumstance. Joe’s distorted life outlook inspires a motivation to retreat from his life away from work. To do so, his choice of an online chat was still a relatively novel one in the year of 1998. By the year of 2020, connections within a cyber space rose suddenly morphed into the preferred method of communication for many people. 3 months into that 2020 year, there would be no other safe alternative to proceed with work and life.
Though it may have been preferred before the pandemic, the other direct options of connection were still at our disposal, even if many did not choose them. When left with just one option, those limitations can create a suffocating feeling of confinement. The resulting human reactions to this can easily become a reflection of our less desirable qualities, similar to those “less desirable” 2020 circumstances.
While it was to a much lesser extent than what came from a global pandemic, Hanks’ character in You’ve Got Mail, Joe Fox, dealt with his own version of being cornered by the realities of life. Amazingly, what enabled Fox to express a more appealing side of himself, and experience a valuable sense of redemption, was the alternate outlet of cyber communication. In a time where this method of work and life was all we could rely on to keep moving, watching this performance sparked a much-needed feeling of hope. For the first time, I believed in the possibility of my own better nature, as well as that of society, to break through, even if it was done in an indirect manner behind a screen.
2000s:
Cast Away / The Terminal
The impressive ‘90s run for Tom Hanks would prove to seamlessly carry over into a new decade and the 21st century’s 1st year. With all the technological talk associated with “Y2K” in the lead up to the year of 2000, the main environment of Hank’s only film released that year, Cast Away, was a stark contrast to such concerns. The space where Hank’s character, Chuck Noland, finds himself, and the new pace of living for which he was forced to resort, was a far cry from where we find him at the movie’s starting point. In both the literal and figurative sense of distance, the physical space is evident and remains the same from the moment he washes ashore. What continuously grows throughout Noland’s stranded experience is the space based in emotion.
The opening moments of Cast Away show Chuck Noland as a man in high demand and full command of his team of Fedex employees. Overseas and far from his partner, it is clear how this duty is one he reports to proudly and with a high level of expertise. With a job, and overall life, where time is always of the essence, what happens when that obsession is completely wiped away?
The question had never been easier to answer at the time of my first viewing experience with Cast Away in 2020. Hank’s hectic performance through the lens of Chuck Noland seemed quite extreme when watching it through my pandemic point of view. It was well developed and lived-in several weeks into a time of complete disarray and separation from what was once the “norm” in my own life. Due to this, I related more to the version of Chuck seen at the start of his prolonged period of isolation. It was not by choice, of course, similar to the real world scenario of 2020. To understand this character, I did not have to crash into the ocean on a work-related flight, as Chuck Noland did in Cast Away. From my understanding came an important level of appreciation for his chosen response to this event. Stuck in a predicament most would have been left wondering, “now what?,” Noland spent very little time asking such a question. Instead, he began putting together some form of action to do something, anything, to better his chance of survival.
There was nothing unique about my thoughts in the first weeks of a global pandemic. The word of emphasis here is global, after all. Instead of drowning in the waves of worry, as I saw so many others doing, I hoped to spend the extra time developing and implementing my own survival plan. While Chuck’s motivation was based in avoiding starvation, mine was to keep the thoughts of fear-based negativity from taking over. It all came down to routine and keeping myself busy. Oddly enough, it came down to having somewhere to go, even if it was a different room under the same roof.
Tom Hanks’ character in the next film I chose from this decade, The Terminal, maintained this philosophy to a tee. Once again, we see an individual, this time with the name of Viktor Navorsky, stuck in an unfamiliar environment with little hope or timetable for resuming his journey. The travels of this character are not business-related, but are set around personal inventions to fulfill a promise for his late father. Coming to America as a foreigner, the mix of optimism for new opportunities is crushed when immigration issues arise and Navorsky is kept from exiting JFK airport in New York City. When the prospect of a delay with no apparent resolve enters into the character’s lexicon, a rush of uncertainty washes over his face. No dialogue was needed to interpret such feelings. Encapsulating them to perfection was Tom Hanks, who brought me, as a viewer, along on his journey to fill the extended time.
For someone unfamiliar with American culture and the landscape of options to consume right there in the JFK airport terminal, there was a wide-eyed sense of wonderment toward the uncharted space. Though the predicament put Viktor Navorsky in a tense situation of discomfort, the small observations he took in with fresh eyes were performed with a desirable level of purity. Not only did this infectious nature ingratiate himself with most characters he met in the airport, such a quality came across the screen and reached a high level of appeal for me as a viewer.
With such a bleak societal environment in the year of 2020, never had it been easier to fill myself with a jaded outlook. Though our bubbles of isolation kept a physical distance, our digital connectivity allowed for a close understanding of those who were experiencing an onslaught of loss. Even if my own difficulties did not expand beyond the limitations of social distancing, my levels of empathy still managed to grow as time progressed. With that came a deeper understanding of the brutal realities of the unrest countless individuals were facing.
While times seemed dark and answers were well beyond my reach, the acting choices of Tom Hanks in The Terminal proved the choice of light, sparked by the wonder of curiosity, was always a viable answer. When circumstances were beyond my control, such as they were for Viktor Navorsky, I had to discover the things I could control, just as he did. This was shown in the routines he created to keep busy amid his delay. With them, he suddenly had a place to go within the airport’s confines. Limited to my own household at that moment, I was inspired to make the most of my days by filling blocks of time with specific routines to complete. This structure not only helped pass the otherwise slow-moving time, it gave me a purpose to fulfill and a mission to accomplish. The results promoted a healthy dose of motivation when I arose to begin each day, determined to make the time within it worthwhile.
2010s:
Captain Phillips / Sully
Within the routines of life, the basic action of rising to begin each day can become easy to take for granted. When a rhythm is created, a sense of comfort is often born from such familiarity. The drawbacks from this continue in the area of expectation, especially when it involves that of a global audience of viewers. Those with an invested interest in Tom Hanks’ output of work grew to heights very few actors had ever seen up to that point. With a string of 7 consecutive movies grossing over $100 million from 1992 to 2002, Tom Hanks was on the A-list of bankable movie stars. While the career upsides greatly outweigh any other factor, unrealistic standards can often come with unprecedented success. All it takes is one movie to underperform, or, in Hanks’ case, gross under $100 million dollars, and suddenly another, less-desirable narrative is added to the lore of an actor’s career.
The 10 year period of less memorable work in the filmography of Tom Hanks led to a new era of his career. In it, Hanks would prove to rekindle an avenue of acting he had done only one time at that point; portraying a real person on-screen. He would go on to do it masterfully.
The representation of those aforementioned routines of life were evident within two characters Tom Hanks played in the 2010s decade, Captain Richard Phillips in 2013’s Captain Phillips and Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in 2016’s Sully. Even those who have critical job responsibilities, such as captaining a U.S. merchant ship in Captain Phillips, or piloting a commercial airline in Sully, can start going through the motions from years of daily repetition. This does not mean those performing the professional tasks do so haphazardly. The characters of Philips and Sullenberger certainly do not portray any lackadaisical approach in each film. Instead, there is a high level of precision and care they perform with an obvious level of ease. It came off as nothing short of impressive, given the high importance of those key roles.
The sense of naturalism Tom Hanks exudes in these opening portions of Captain Phillips and Sully heightens the film’s eventual stakes even more. It is all due to the realistic feeling of what he performs. The level of attention required to make a performance believable is second to none. For one with such specificities toward the intricate nature of a job and its terminology, the film’s script can only do so much. It is ultimately in the hands of an actor to ensure credibility is upheld.
As a viewer, I was on the side of both Richard Phillips and Chesley Sullenberger from the start. Having seen each of them take the proper precautions and undergo the more scripted parts of their daily preparation, it was amazing to witness their use of improvisation amid desperate and dangerous circumstances. In Captain Phillips, these began when it is noted that Somali pirates are an ever-present threat in maritime space. For an ocean liner, such as the one Phillips was captaining, to possess such valuable cargo, a massive target was placed upon the vessel. When the pirate group took their aim, it was a bullseye hit on the massive ship. Despite the efforts from its captain and crew, each following their protocol for such an attack, it was not enough to fend them off.
As it relates to the next film, Sully, the actions required from a pilot amid a plane’s engine failure are certainly quite extensive. When such dire events unfold, however, those plans can fall to the wayside. In such a case, the only remaining thing is the experience and instincts of a pilot, relying only on their experience and overall ability to mix protocol with improvisation. This combination was seen in harrowing moments from the film’s edge-of-your-seat emergency landing scene. The results, leaving the plane in New York City’s Hudson River, may have been life-saving to its passengers, but the key narrative focus of Sully shows how they were nearly career-ending for Sullenberger, its pilot. As a string of tense conversations and hearings follow this event, all of which focus on the jeopardized state of his career. Through all of this, Tom Hanks is the embodiment of reasonable stress portrayed through the required tone of professionalism. Such consistency of calm under intense pressure was an obvious trait he honed through his many years of piloting.
Both films drop viewers, like myself, into real-world events of unforeseen proportions. The power of the “based on a true story” component to each movie made way for even more buy-in on my part. The lived-in nature of each character played by Tom Hanks is what reveals the mastery of his craft. It was impressive to see how the tedious ins and outs of each job continued when both Phillips and Sullenberger dealt with the unplanned external factors. Heightening the believability, and overall fascination, was how Hanks maintained such levels of expertise amid those dire circumstances. It was almost as if it had to be real footage of the actual event unfolding.
The only way these technical components of performance are held together is when there are emotional stakes at their core. Believability in one’s representation of a job can only do so much to make viewers care. While important, it is simply a surface-level quality of a movie’s ability to connect with an audience. What sustains this is when the motivations of a character are rooted in relatable human qualities. I cannot think of any actor who represents this very thing, both on and offscreen, better than Tom Hanks. In my view, his everyman quality is in a league of its own.
When this consistent aspect to Hanks’ approach to life and work becomes a reliable source of empathy, my ability to connect with his character is enhanced with each and every role. For these two in Captain Phillips and Sully, my eyes were opened to the value of calm amid chaos. By choosing this over the natural, easily accessible instinct of panic, those around us can feed off of this choice. While life or death may not often be on the line for many of us, our opportunities to progress forward and help others are always on the table.
Saturday, June, 6 2020 - Saving Private Ryan
“Pain consumed my thoughts” … the same line, used to begin this project, is an ideal one to start its conclusion. While I had some experience with the kind I felt back in November of 2019, connected to the lower back area, this was something entirely different. The only upside to this pain was that it was expected … normal even. It was not the kind where I questioned how an 18-year-old could possibly feel so sore. It was the kind associated with 24 hours removed from a wisdom teeth removal procedure. This was just a part of the process I had some time to mentally prepare for. Yet no matter how much I braced, its impact still managed to strike like lightning.
Feeling its flash with any inch of movement, I thought the choice of sitting down to watch a movie would be an ideal approach. Not only would it help me keep still, I figured the movie-watching experience would provide a sense of comfort, as it successfully did in the months prior. Choosing yet another movie from the filmography of Tom Hanks, I was positive the comfort was a surefire guarantee. Browsing over those I still had not seen at that point, a significantly narrowed list from the beginning of 2020, the Saving Private Ryan title stood out among them all. Yes, I was aiming for comfort, but in seeing this, I knew I would be in for something else. Saving Private Ryan, released in 1998, was much more than the first Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg collaboration. Their connection would eventually lead to 4 more feature films for Hanks to star in under Spielberg’s direction. It was a joint effort that many, especially after watching the film’s finished product, were left wondering, what took them so long?!
In one of the opening moments of Saving Private Ryan, American soldiers were featured in combat as the World War II beach invasion in Normandy, France was displayed through those powerful performances. The execution of this scene was unlike anything that had ever appeared on a movie screen to that point. In the years since, there are few instances, if any at all, where the violence of battle comes across as it does in Saving Private Ryan. For a film of this magnitude to commit to an effort such as this, the painstaking care and detail was recognized on a worldwide scale. 22 years after its release, it was recognized by me, as well. My strategy in pursuing this viewing experience was no longer aligned with gaining a sense of comfort. It was to take in a historic event on the exact date it occurred 76 years earlier. How fitting, I thought.
The comfort I thought I needed was no match to the events displayed in Saving Private Ryan. Making them come to life was Tom Hanks. I was not watching the “America's dad” or “favorite uncle” version of Hanks, which I had witnessed in most of his other films in the lead up to June 6th. Rather, I found myself consumed in a character study of military Captain John Miller, who reckons with the ultra-traumatic impacts of combat. Tom Hanks managed to emulate the balance of internal strife with the external fortitude needed to lead his squad throughout an endless array of warzones. Such chaos in these environments morphs into the same categorization in his mind. Its impact can only be internalized but so much and becomes a triggering factor for Miller’s stress. The external representation of this comes out in the moments leading up to, or just after, the various spurts of battle.
Cinema’s influential power broke through the screen and straight into my conscience when the horrors of war were amplified through this performance. For Captain Miller’s circumstance to have this level of impact on his ability to do his job and simply live his life, it really put my own “pain” in perspective. For me, there was a recovery process and, though it was just starting for me, an end was in sight. I could rely on a timeline to reach the other side. For those who experience the trauma of war, any process of recovery is far from concrete. There is a lifelong component those individual people are left to grapple with. It would be a much farther stretch to even think about associating my temporary situation with one of more permanence.
Had my cinematic cynicism not been put to death back on November 21st of 2019, I would have not bothered to make any attempt at a renewed shift in point of view through the means of film. When eyeing the Saving Private Ryan title and ultimately pressing “play”, I believe something meaningful was at the core of my decision. I can now realize how it was beyond an anniversary date or a chance to check another box on my Tom Hanks movie watchlist. Rather, it was the understanding of my need to enter another, more consequential world. The belief I had in its ability to transform my state of mind broke through the horrific elements of the story at play. Amid such madness, hints of beauty broke through as I considered the power of such sacrifice and bravery. A sense of light was packaged with this, which I happily allowed to expose my darkened thoughts and eliminate their threat.
In hindsight, I recognize this moment in time, the opening months of 2020, as society’s own desperate search for healing. With everyone on their own individualized journey to this goal, the timeline to achieve it was known to vary. For many, it is still ongoing nearly 6 years later. To acquire respite amid those unprecedented and unpredictable times, the work of Tom Hanks made way for the consistency I craved. It was as if a key, granting access to the most decent qualities of human nature, was hand delivered from Tom Hanks. Throughout the collective range of genres, stories, as well as tragedies and triumphs within them, his presence was a dependable guide to carry each film to its satisfying conclusion. Even when a film did not have the classic storybook ending, the satisfaction came from their accurate depictions of life. Aside from an intriguing story and Tom Hanks performance to give them life, I wondered if other feeling-invoking factors were at play.
In an era where it is easy to get washed up in a steady stream of chaos, having an outlet to normalcy is an effective survival technique. I had a long-standing view of “normalcy” and would usually place it in a higher tier than nostalgia. It was not too far into this Tom Hanks viewing journey for me to begin pairing each term closer together, not only in the same tier, but nearly the same thing altogether. The complexities between them help provide something more valuable than a couple of hours of entertainment. My choice and ability to provide such detailed reflections of these movies, nearly 6 years later, is the ultimate sign of this level of impact.
With an inability to stop time and its evolving nature, the things of this world will naturally come and go. What remains as a cultural touchstone is the power of story and the craft of those who devote their lives to telling them. While Tom Hanks is one of a countless number of talented individuals who have done so over the course of history, his approach, spirit, and overall ability, is one of a kind. It is a kind that, in this day and age, we have never needed more. To spend a trying moment in history with his presence he graced on screen, a beacon of light shined down on life’s possibilities. I came to understand and appreciate how it was not only possible to maintain goodness in the not-so-good circumstances, it was a form of civic duty to our fellow man. To serve others can come in many forms. For Tom Hanks to have chosen that of performative storytelling, I, and the world at large, will be forever changed for the better.
