15. The idea behind the film
The film was written by Robert Rodat, and he is the one who invented the plot.
A famous American scriptwriter
He was apparently inspired after seeing a monument dedicated to the four sons of Agnes Allison in Port Carbon, Pennsylvania – (Simply heartbreaking, I know).
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This of course formed the foundations for the idea behind Ryan’s brothers and their deaths, and the drive to save him – the final brother left alive.
A representation of the monument
Agnes Allison’s children were however killed during the American Civil War – not World War II.
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Writer Rodat simply altered the context of the story, but kept the premise largely the same.
Ryan survives and returns home
The only exception is that the youngest Private Ryan survives the war in the film.
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