History Lessons
Playing a Jewish soldier,
Adam Goldberg finds special meaning
in "Saving Private Ryan."
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to The Jewish News
A
dam Goldberg had been lazy
about studying history in
school. He found the infor-
mation all too abstract and
had a difficult time internalizing what
he read.
It wasn't until he was cast in Saving
Private Ryan and made to go through
training in a simulated boot camp that
World War II began to have some real
meaning for him.
The actor says audiences who did
not live through the war years will have
a similar experience when they watch
the movie. The film, directed by Steven
Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks,
opens today.
The powerful history lesson opens
with an explicit and bloody depiction
of the D-Day landing at Omaha Beach
and depicts the horrors faced by eight
fictional characters taking on a mission
behind enemy lines.
Ultimately, viewers will ask them-
selves whether it was right to risk the
lives of eight fighting men in an effort to
save the life of a soldier whose three
older brothers have been killed in action.
"More than anything, I view the
film as a visceral history lesson," said
Goldberg, who portrays Pvt. Mellish, a
Jewish soldier from New York. "I think
that few films have dealt with this war
in as graphic and as honest a way.
"I think that people should know
[this] before they see the film, but I
also think it's important for kids to see
that war does not mean video games."
Goldberg, 27, made his feature film
debut as Billy Crystal's brother-in-law
in Mr. Saturday Night and went on to
star as the neurotic high school student
Mike in Dazed and Confused. Other
film credits include Higher Learning
and The Prophecy.
On television, Goldberg had recur-
ring parts on "Relativity" and "Friends"
and appearances on "NYPD Blue,"
"E.R." and "Murphy Brown."
Raised in Hollywood, Goldberg
began dramatic training at 14 and later
studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute.
He attended Sarah Lawrence College,
where he performed in a number of
stage productions before returning to
Los Angeles.
Soon to be seen in ed TV and heard
in Pig in the City, Goldberg made his
directing and screenwriting debut with
Scotch and
Milk, a
drama he
completed as
producer,
editor and
star. It pre-
Adam Goldberg, center, and platoon mates learn about their mission.
miered at
the Los
morning. We found this so incredibly
Angeles Independent Film Festival.
taxing that any second we weren't
But Goldberg's role as Pvt. Mellish in
shooting we were lying on our packs.
Saving Private Ryan has certainly been
"We complained about what we had
his most grueling. Former U.S. Marine
to do much in the same way our char-
Corps Capt. Dale Dye put the actors
acters complained in the film. There
through 10 days of weapons drills, close
was a lot of art imitating life and vice
combat, maneuvers and tactics.
versa, which I think benefits the film."
"It was easily the most physically
Reading about the war took on a
overwhelming experience of my life,"
whole new relevance, particularly
Goldberg said. "I tried to get myself in
through a study group formed with his
shape before I left for filming, but
friend Giovanni Ribisi, who played
nothing could have prepared me for it.
Medic Wade.
I'm thoroughly urban and not the most
athletic person on the planet.
HISTORY LESSONS on page 82
"It took
a lot of
physical
and psycho-
logical self
discipline
just to ger
up in the
A Jewish War Veteran Remembers
Henry Seligman of Southfield
landed in France two weeks after D-
Day. He never forgets the devastation.
"It looked like a giant bulldozer
had gone ahead of us," he recalled.
"The only thing left standing in one
small town was a church steeple, and
somehow that sight strengthened my
belief in God."
Seligman, 78, is a decorated veter-
an who was stationed in Iceland
before going on to Europe. Like so
many others who actually faced war-
fare, he only reluctantly talks about
the horrors of day-to-day survival —
ducking the bullets, protecting the
minimal food supplies and coping
with the filth of the trenches.
7/24
1998
80 Detroit Jewish News
"I'd never been in battle, and I don't
think there's really any way to prepare
for it," he said. "One day, I was asked
to be a courier and take a message. I
crawled all the way so I wouldn't be
hit. When I returned to my position, I
found two of my buddies dead."
After suffering serious injuries,
Seligman was treated in the field and
ultimately sent to hospitals in France
and England. He remembers one
instance when the Red Cross brought
him hot coffee and a chocolate donut
and how he savored that after eating
just to survive. Nothing since has ever
tasted so good.
Without actually seeing Saving
Private Ryan, Seligman has a negative
reaction to
the premise
of the film,
thinking
about his
only son,
Henry Seligman: "I don't think any movie can really show how ter-
David,
rifting it is to be in battle."
whose ser-
made me appreciate whatever I have,
vice in Vietnam had been a constant
especially things as basic as a daily
source of worry.
shower.
"I don't think any movie can really
"I think that everybody should
show how terrifying it is to be in bat-
really appreciate what this country
tle with people shooting at you,"
means and respect all the people who
Seligman said. "Obviously, it's good
went to war because war really is
to save lives, but I wouldn't risk eight
hell."
to save one.
"I'm so grateful that both my son
and I are alive, and I think the war
— Suzanne Chessler