Production Year: 2001 - Drama - Director: Richard Loncraine, Mikael Salomon, David Nutter, Tom Hanks, David Leland, David Frankel, Tony To, Phil Alden Robinson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Matthew Settle, Ron Livingston, Scott Grimes, Neal McDonough, Frank John Hughes, Rick Warden, Rick Gomez, Robin Laing, Dexter Fletcher, David Schwimmer, James Madio, Marc Warren more
I am writing this review on the 'complete series commemorative gift set'.. This is housed in a tin with a card coverlet. My dad bought this for me for Christmas along with a few other DVDs (I think he got a special deal at the DVD shop!!). This is a 6 disc set - a lot of running time, but if you have the time well worth sitting down to watch.
Basic Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Region - 2 Audio - 5.1 Dolby Digital Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1 Widescreen/Colour Run Time - 782 minutes Languages - English/French Hearing Impaired - English Subtitles - English, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish, Turkish, Dutch, Bulgarian, Romanian, Arabic Rating - 15 RRP - £59.99 (shop around - prices on the net range from £29.99 right up to the RRP)
On opening the tin you see the contents on the inside of the lid. The discs are set in a concertina style insert, when fully extended this shows scenes from the series in black and white - very visual imagery.
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Cast ~~~~
Kirk Acevedo, Eion Bailey, Michael Cudlitz, Dale Dye, Rick Gomez, Scott Grimes, Colin Hanks, Frank John Hughes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, James Madio, Neal McDonough(Medical Investigation), David Schwimmer (Friends), Matthew Settle, Douglas Spain, Richard Spright Jr, Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block).
Producers - Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg
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The Series ~~~~~~~
As I stated earlier this is a 6 disc box set and it is a long series to watch. As you may or may not know, this was aired on BBC2 not too long ago in the distant past as a weekly series and when you sit down to watch it in one go, you can see why. The run time is over 13 hours. I did sit down and watch the whole thing in one go - I was tired for days afterwards - but it was worth it.
This series is based on the bestselling book by Stephen E Ambrose. It follows the lives of the men of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division of the American Forces during World War 2. It is also based on interviews with the surviving members of easy company, and their letters and diaries.
The lives of the men are detailed from bootcamp in the US, to being stationed in Britain, the D-Day landings, the Battle of the Bulge, right up to invading Germany and capturing Hitler's hideout at the Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgarten.
Also shown on this series is when the men of Easy Company discovered a concentration camp. The scenes here are quite distressing, as they show the state of the camp and the poor health of the inmates. It shows the men of Easy company making the German occupants of the local village burying the dead from the concentration camp. This is a harrowing part of the film to watch but its true to what happened to these men while they were fighting.
The series does not just show the down side of war - it also shows the bonds of friendship that are formed - these friendships have lasted throughout the years. It shows the good times they had as well as the bad.
The set shows the series in 10 parts (with extra features). I will not bore you with explanations of each of the episodes as they are pretty much explained above in general. These discs are:
Disc 1 ~~~~~
Part 1 - Currahee
Part 2 - Day of Days
Disc 2 ~~~~~ Part 3 - Carentan
Part 4 - Replacements
Disc 3 ~~~~~ Part 5 - Crossroads
Part 6 - Bastogne
Disc 4 ~~~~~
Part 7 - The Breaking Point
Part 8 - The Last Patrol
Disc 5 ~~~~~
Part 9 - Why We Fight
Part 10 - Points
Disc 6 - Bonus Features ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* We stand Alone - The Men of Easy Company - this is a 1 hour 20 minute documentary on the men of easy company.
* Ron Livingston' Video Diaries - self explanatory
* The Making of Band of Brothers - this is a 30 minute feature showing the making of the series
* Web Links - this shows the web links to associated pages.
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My Opinion ~~~~~~~~~
This is a fantastic box set to have - I absolutely loved it. Yes I was movd to tears in more than one place throughout the series but you would have to be completely void of emotion to sit through the whole thing dry-eyed. I found it to be completely enthralling - once i put on the first disc I had to watch the other 5 straight after. This has to be one of the best things i have watched on DVD in such a long time.
For this reason I am giving this DVD box set the five star recommendation - to me this is a must-see. It is quite pricey at £59.99 but if you shop around I have seen it advertised on line for £29.99. LIke I said earlier I ws given this as a gift, but I would have happily paid £29.99 to buy it as I think its great value for money at that price.
If you are in two minds whether to watch this or not - then I recommend that you do watch it. Its inspiring, thought provoking and emotional but well worth it.
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