"The heroes have crosses above their heads, the ones that are buried in the cemeteries. Those are the true heroes, not us. We're just part of the works, that's all. And we thank God we got back alive." A veteran of Easy Company.
First of all, I realize that my review about Band of Brothers is quite lengthy, and for that I apologize because I am aware that long commentaries have the habit of becoming tedious or even self indulgent.. But I feel I would be doing a great disservice to the Band of Brothers experience by not being as thorough as possible.
Experiencing Band of Brothers starts not in the battlefields of Europe, nor in Camp Toccoa, Georgia. It begins in your hand, with the classically beautiful packaging of the 10 episode, six disc DVD set that is housed in a metal tin that at first glance resembles a military I.D. dog tag. With sepia-tone printing and logo embossing that emulates photography of the period, the tin opens up to reveal an accordion style pull out of all six discs and a table of contents printed in the inside of the front cover. It makes perfect sense to house a story of such humanity and historical import in such a well-designed package. It's almost as if you are opening a time capsule of sorts that reveals the story of a rapidly disappearing generation of Americans. Just another example of the attention to detail that makes the Band of Brothers experience so riveting.
I first read Steven Ambrose’s book about the citizen soldiers who fought in the major battles of the European Theatre of World War Two some years ago. At the time I remember asking myself how would I have done? Would I have stood up to the whine of enemy bullets that played around my head like the buzz of so many bees? Was there anything special about me that could have pulled me through this tremendous conflict of arms? And with this in mind I watched Band of Brothers, watched it as a kind of detached spectator, and became totally fascinated by the whole experience. Band of Brothers is exceptionally easy to become completely immersed in. It is absolutely believable and completely without any kind of guile. What you see on the box is what you get in the movie experience.
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks have, on the back of the success of 1998's Saving Private Ryan, collaborated once again to produce an HBO original television series that immortalizes the true events and actions of American soldiers in their campaign across northern Europe to destroy Hitler's reign of terror. They bring to life the writing of Stephen Ambrose, an author and biographical historian who has also written about Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower. With the largest budget to date for a television mini-series, over $120 million, Band of Brothers is a story of grandiose proportions that has proven to be one of the most moving and humbling video experiences of my life to date. What amount of money would be considered too high a cost to justify the documentation of
a generation of Americans who risked everything, including their lives, so that generations to follow could live in peace and freedom? Don't even try to mention to me, the ramifications of an over-bloated budget and precedent setting expenditures. I just won't listen; it was worth every last dollar. And a final word to those patriotic detractors who are wary of accounts of World War Two which portray the victory in Europe as a predominantly American achievement. Despite modern day attitudes to current conflicts, the fact is that victory in Europe and other theatres of war during the 1940’s was due to the sheer force of arms of our American allies, and this cannot be denied by history.
Despite its total running time of over 10 hours, Band of Brothers does not provide an all-encompassing look at the American military campaign in Northern Europe during World War II. Instead, it tells the true-life story of the soldiers of Company E of the 506th Parachute Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The young warriors of Easy Company. The HBO series featured 10 episodes, each beginning with interviews of anonymous living members of Easy Company recounting a short memory or experience of the events that would be covered in that episode. Some are these are very moving, especially when the eyes of ageing veterans film over with tears as they recall their overwhelming experiences of 20th century conflict. From the first episode that covers the soldiers' training at Camp Toccoa in Georgia, to the final episode where the men of Easy Company capture Hitler's infamous Alpine Lair known as The Eagle's Nest, we follow the soldiers battle by battle through their D-Day landing behind enemy lines in France, through Holland, Belgium and on into Germany. I watched all ten episodes on DVD and hereby proclaim them to be of superior quality both in audio and video properties. The blacks are deep and rich with no noticeable compression artifacting and the audio is ear shattering with bombs exploding in all directions, and bullets snapping past your ears in a frightful display of what it must be like to be in battle. During battle sequences, the camera operator switches from dolly and crane mounted cameras to actual hand-held cameras, giving a frantic first-person view of diving into foxholes and jumping behind trees and windows. The film is bleached out and highly polarized, giving it a soul-searing drab and grey realism. I mainly wore a high quality set of radio headphones while watching and I believe this gave a far more intimate and immersive experience than stereo speakers could achieve. There were times during the overwhelmingly intimate heat of battle when I would gladly have accepted the offer of a steel helmet.
The last disc in the series not only contains the final episode but also includes a wonderful documentary, We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company. It includes archive footage of Easy Company, and features interviews of the actual surviving members, recounting their experiences in many of the campaigns. One particularly moving piece was the revisit by two surviving Easy Company members to the Ardennes forest on the outskirts of the village of Foy in Belgium, where Easy Company had held the line against the Germans in what would later become known to military historians as The Battle of the Bulge. You could see the memories and the horrors of the battle resurface on their weathered faces as they looked out over the now peaceful and picturesque Belgian countryside. It was difficult to form a mental comparison of the forest as it is today when compared to what happened back then. The forest literally exploded with artillery and bombs as the Germans surrounded Bastogne and employed deliberate aerial bursts of ranged artillery that rained a death of shrapnel and splintered trees upon the Americans.
I've always marvelled at 1998's Saving Private Ryan and have it earmarked as one of my favourite movies of all time. Especially the opening hour that covers the D-Day landing sequence. I wondered how we would ever get a more realistic accounting of fighting in WWII. Spielberg has done it again with Band of Brothers. Although, as is the case with almost all war movies, it is a bit difficult at first to discern the identities of different soldiers who start off as an amorphous khaki bunch, and to become familiar with their personalities, but I quickly fell in line and empathised with favourite characters.
If you wondered about the inspiration for the title of this series, wonder no more: “From this day to the ending of the world, ...we in it shall be remembered, ...we band of brothers.” Henry V, William Shakespeare
What follows is a brief description of each episode. Despite the fact that the main themes of the plot are a re-telling of known 20th century history, I have omitted an enormous amount of detail for fear of spoiling:
1 Currahee Easy Company undergoes training and are introduced to the petty tyrant Captain Sobel. The company is shipped to England.
2 Day of Days The Company lands in Normandy and Lieutenant Winters completes their mission by assuming command.
3 Carentan The Company battles in Carentan. Private Albert Blithe struggles with fear.
4 Replacements Easy Company, along with replacements, parachute into and fight in the Netherlands as part of the ill fated Operation Market Garden.
5 Crossroads Winters writes a report on the challenge of an unexpected resistance to a German attack, and is haunted by his conscience after shooting a teenage German soldier at close range.
6 Bastogne Easy Company experiences the Battle of the Bulge and have to hold ground near Bastogne against brutal German counter-attacks.7 The Breaking Point The Company battles near Foy, Belgium, and the actions of Lieutenant Norman Dike are examined and questioned. A good officer reaches breaking point.
8 The Last Patrol Easy Company carries out a dangerous mission, and Captain Winters is promoted to Major. He disobeys an order to preserve lives.
9 Why We Fight A concentration camp, near Landsberg, is discovered by the Company. The local population avow no knowledge of its existence.
10 Points The company captures Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s death
Pictures of Band Of Brothers (Tin) (DVD)
the brothers in arms
occurs and the end of the war is announced
11: We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, young men from all walks of life flooded recruiting offices to defend their country. Some volunteered for a daring new elite unit, the paratroops. Formed in July 1942, the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army moulded civilians into soldiers at Camp Toccoa, Ga. But only a fraction of those who started training were able to finish it, and those who did were "the cream of the cream." In September 1943, after 15 months of training, Easy Co. and their fellow paratroopers boarded the ship Samaria in New York for the long voyage to England; some veterans recall wondering, as they passed the Statue of Liberty, if they’d ever see it again. Many Easy Co. men would not over the next two years, the unit sustained 150% casualties as they dropped behind enemy lines in Normandy on D-Day, fought for the liberation of Holland, held the line in the Battle of the Bulge, and captured Hitler’s mountaintop retreat, Eagles Nest, in Bavaria. Through it all, each veteran recalls that his reliance on his brothers-in-arms is the reason any of them made it back alive. For their repeated acts of courage and bravery, the entire division, as well as individual soldiers, earned multiple citations, including the Purple Heart, Silver Star, Bronze Star and Distinguished Service Cross. As for Easy Company’s legacy, veteran C. Carwood Lipton asserts, "Every army unit thinks it's the best. But we knew we were the best."
DVD Information Screen formats: Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 Subtitles: Spanish. Sound: English: DTS 5.1 Surround, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Other Features: Colour; interactive menus; scene access; making-of featurette; documentary; video diaries; premiere footage; interactive timeline and field guide; photo gallery; DVD-ROM features.
Complete Cast Damian Lewis .... Maj. Richard D. Winters Donnie Wahlberg .... 2nd Lt. C. Carwood Lipton Ron Livingston .... Capt. Lewis Nixon Matthew Settle .... Capt. Ronald Speirs Rick Warden .... 1st Lt. Harry Welsh Frank John Hughes .... S/Sgt. William 'Wild Bill' Guarnere Scott Grimes .... T/Sgt. Donald Malarkey Neal McDonough .... 1st Lt. Lynn 'Buck' Compton Rick Gomez .... Sgt. George Luz Eion Bailey .... Pvt. David Kenyon Webster James Madio .... Sgt. Frank Perconte Kirk Acevedo .... S/Sgt. Joseph Toye Michael Cudlitz .... Sgt. Denver 'Bull' Randleman Richard Speight Jr .... Sgt. Warren 'Skip' Muck Dexter Fletcher .... S/Sgt. John Martin
I paid Ł10 for my copy at a car boot sale (a bargain!)
And finally, why am I writing this review so long after the airing of the original HBO production on TV and the subsequent release of the series in DVD format?
Today is the 6th of June and it seems an appropriate day to remember the 20th century citizen soldiers who sacrificed life and limb for the unimpeachable cause of freedom and democracy. I am predominantly a reader who watches a relatively small amount of TV because such a relatively large amount of what is on offer is poor. As such, I often discover treasures like Band of Brothers much later than the norm. It's not that I lack curiosity, it's more a kind of intellectual laziness or preoccupation with other things. The rather pleasant side to this behaviour is that I occasionally discover items such as this DVD series through casual and often accidental browsing (I think this is called serendippity). Having said this, it does not diminish the impact that such finds have on me. Albeit late, Band of Brothers was a discovery that gave me an immense amount of pleasure and at such times I just have this irresistible desire to share the experience. I also have a lifelong interest in history and Band of Brothers is such a complete and perfect realisation of a time when the future of the free world was on the brink, it just can't be ignored or indeed forgotten.
I recommend this to you without any reservation and hope you will accept it for what it is; it is a perfect historical realisation and a deeply human story of bonds of brotherhood forged in overwhelming adversity.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
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