In Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award winning, Schindler’s List (1993), a character quotes from scripture: “He who saves a life saves the world entire.” In a scene-by-scene analysis utilizing PowerPoint and film clips, we will take a deep dive in exploring variations on this theme in Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award winning Saving Private Ryan (1997). Through the eyes of the common solider in the battlefield with special emphasis on dialogue and action that reveals the inner beliefs and moral choices of the main characters, we will discover how the world is or isn’t saved. Registrants are expected to have watched Saving Private Ryan before the first class. Available rental, subscription and/or free streaming sources for it will be provided a week before the first week of class.

Bernard Epps, Butch as he likes to be called, received his undergraduate degree from Loyola Marymount University graduating cum laude as an award-winning film production major and received his masters degree from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Film and Television graduate Producers Program where he focused on story development and worked with screenwriters. At UCLA, he served as academic liaison to the Master in Fine Art Producers Program active film industry faculty including studio heads, development executives and others.