Both Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan depict the horrors of war. Apocalypse Now, set during the Vietnam War, follows Captain Willard on his mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz. Saving Private Ryan, set during World War II, depicts the mission to retrieve a paratrooper, Private Ryan, whose brothers were killed in action. Both films use graphic depictions of violence and death to convey the human costs of war and have become iconic films for their generation's wars.