10 More Most Confusing Movie Moments Nobody Understands
4. Two Different German Soldiers - Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan offers audiences an immersive, unparalleled view of the horrors of war. Surrendering soldiers were shot dead, others were deliberately left to burn rather than being put out of their misery, and children were left behind for the greater good.
One of the biggest decisions Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) made in and around this was to let the German soldier who killed Giovanni Ribisi's Medic Wade go. Almost his entire team wanted the surrendering prisoner dead, but as Miller explained it, with every life he took he felt further from home, and so in spite of the fact he just killed a member of the team, he walked free.
During the big final battle at the bridge, Private Mellish (Adam Goldberg) was ultimately killed by a German soldier who looked strikingly similar to the man Miller let walk free. This has led to a common misconception that the two were the same man in what would have been arguably the most heartbreaking and ironic twist in the story.
However, in spite of the parallels of the two scenes, in that Mellish's killer lets Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies) walk away, after Upham was the only other one campaigning for Wade's killer to be spared, these are two completely separate men, and other than being German soldiers have nothing else in the movie to connect them.