> The triumph of the movie, as described at the time, was making people care about a story they already knew the ending to.
One could, I think, argue the same about any movie about a historical event. I think that it would seem strange, for example, to say that that was the main achievement of Sands of Iwo Jima.
I think it’s different when you’re talking about an army versus three people in that army.
We don’t know if Private Ryan or any of the other characters make it. We can assume most of the actors make it off the beach at the beginning, but that’s about it.
