Saving Private Ryan's Omaha Beach scene cost $12 million and used 1,500 background actors

pop & funWikipedia1998 · Normandy, France

Saving Private Ryan's Omaha Beach scene cost $12 million and used 1,500 background actors

the gist

Saving Private Ryan is Steven Spielberg's 1998 war film, following a captain and his squad sent to bring home a paratrooper whose three brothers have been killed in action. Its opening Omaha Beach battle was the hardest scene to shoot, costing $12 million over four weeks and using 1,500 background actors. The cast went through a week-long boot camp to understand the soldiers' experience. WWII veterans said the combat was the most realistic portrayal they had seen, and some could not watch it because of their own memories. The film earned $481.8 million and was added to the US National Film Registry in 2014.

so what

Its handheld, graphic combat style reshaped how war films are made, and many later war, action and superhero films borrowed its techniques. It also helped renew interest in World War II at the turn of the century.

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗