Saving Private Ryan - "Minstrel Boy"

This video is several years old; I no longer hold the views expressed below.
~~~~~~~

This video is about Corporal Timothy P. Upham. At the beginning of the movie, he's still a young man. He hasn't seen battle yet, and hasn't "held a weapon since basic training, sir." By the end of the movie, he's changed into a warrior. He's now capable of things he wasn't just a few days before. He's grown up.

In my opinion, he is very much the 'minstrel boy' in the song. I think this song, "The Minstrel Boy" fit him very well. I also believe the song (in general) suits Saving Private Ryan more than it does Black Hawk Down.

This video took several weeks to make, not because it was difficult, but because I only found time to work on it every now and then. Still, I think it turned out very well.
The major dificulty was exporting it. I couldn't get a good quality version that was small enough (the file size, that is) to upload to YouTube. So this quality isn't the best, but that's because I had to lower it. Sorry it's so crappy. =[

I hope you enjoy it!

~ DerKaiser92


Lyrics:

The minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him;
His father's sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him;

"Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard,
(Should) "Tho' all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!"

The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's steel
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;

And said "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and brav'ry!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free
They shall never sound in slavery!



-- Song from BLACK HAWK DOWN
-- Footage from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

I do not own either the song or the footage. They are copy righted by their respective owners. This video was created for entertainment purposes only. No profit was made.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Saving
• Private
• Ryan
• Black
• Hawk
• Down
• Hans
• Zimmer
• Corporal
• Upham
• Tom
• Hanks
• Steven
• Spielberg
• Ridley
• Scott

[1798Greenflag1916]

reddevils your an idiot , the song was written by Thomas Moore in the early 1800`s to honour the minstrel boy or as we call him in Ireland the croppy boy , he fought against British tyranny and when he was captured his father refused to claim him so he was hung . "And he tore its cords asunder " the harp was the sign of the united irishmen he tore the cords to show the rebellion was over

[Trosn]

That was a very very very well made video, timing, scenechoices and fading were all topnotch!

[RideHanna]

@1798Greenflag1916 Yes you are bang on with your correction. The Minstrel boy tears the chords to prevent the harp being played by the oppressor. Music being the one thing the English could not "Take".

[irishpanda2000]

i kinda liked how some of the movie effects were kept in. adds drama to the music.

[nintendiehard]

I'm rather saddened by the comic everyone is upset about. BUT It's clear that enough has been said about PRenta's ignorance.

As for the video, fantastic work. Good concept, and expertly done. The editing was good and the choppiness of it lent itself well to the subject matter.

The ONLY criticism I have is that the sound effects of the movie are sometimes a little overpowering so some audio tweaking would have been nice. Still, great stuff. Feel proud.

[kocrock]

@tmtmtmuu And adding a somber, excellent, & poignant folk song from 200 years ago to a WW2 movie that is full of violence and heroism is called creativity and artistic license. Until you can put something together that's half as good as this, I suggest you just keep your head buried in your ass. if you know what i mean......

[Luke50001]

The moderate Somalis knew of our good intentions, but of course they were very few in number, and had little power. The warlords, of course, were always involved in petty fighting, very much like gangs in their territorialism and tactics. Really the only things the Somalis agreed on was Islam, and as is the case with any religion, crazy leaders+ignorant people=violence.

[Luke50001]

American imperialism in Somalia? There is nothing profitable there, no reason to 'subjugate' it in any way. We were ONLY there to help people; food and medicinal aid was sent for the starving and the sick, but warlords kept confiscating it so we sent troops. We meant well. It is a pity that the poor, ignorant people of Somalia were whipped into a frenzy by their religious leaders, who told them that the Americans wanted to make them slaves and take Islam from them. So we had to fight...

[adamzanzie]

Good video, DerK... although I may have to disagree that 'Saving Private Ryan' is about Upham's transformation into a "warrior". Quite the opposite, in fact. Upham suffers from cowardice from beginning to end in the movie -- including at the end, when he shoots "Steamboat Willie", an unarmed POW. I think Spielberg's point was that by the time Upham finally does kill somebody in the war, it is merely a further act of cowardice on his part.

Excellent use of this song, however.

[RPenta]

@shack130 The comments really make me wonder about the intellectual and moral disconnects here; Black Hawk Down-the Minstrel Boy arises out of the Irish struggle against British occupation and BD is about--American occupation and imperialism in Somalia-seems like role reversal here. I have problems with a lot of with Speilberg and Hanks-the movie endorses a war crime when the American soldiers shoot down German POW's-but hey their Nazis so we can do what we want to anyway.