Band of Brothers (Viva SC/Rpkg/DVD)

Without a doubt, HBO's mini-series based on Stephen E. Ambrose's book _Band of Brothers_, is the best war film ever produced! Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks has proven unequivocally that the old adage "truth is stranger (and more interesting) than fiction," holds true. Realism and an undauted quest to bring to the screen the actuality of the combat experience in an infantry company, resonates in the countless themes exhibited throughout the film. The production team, that consisted of eight directors, including Hanks, has accomplished an extraordinary feat both on and beneath the surface of this remarkable mini-series. What the viewer sees in this action-packed movie will delight the staunchest war film aficionado. The directors utilize the same revolutionary cinematography techniques first seen in Spielberg's prior effort, "Saving Private Ryan." The chaotic hand-held camera work places the viewer right in the heart of the battle scenes. The addition of all the latest computer generated special effects, clearly confirms how great a war movie can be when backed by a big budget (lucky for us Spielberg is a World War II buff). The night jump over Normandy is arguably the best battle sequence ever shot on film. But it is the countless themes beneath the surface of the film that makes "Band of Brothers" a true gem, and destined to become a film classic. Let us always remember that this is not only the story of an elite Airborne company, but of the actual men who made up Easy Company. The Army succeeded in molding these men into a fine-tuned combat effective team through the most intense, rugged mental and physical training. Individuality is discarded and team-work is exemplified if one is to survive in combat. Yet regardless of the level of training, it is human beings that are sent into combat, and Easy Company's rank and file consisted of individuals of varying and diverse human attributes and character defects. And the film illustrates the "humanity" of Easy Company beautifully. The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment had good and bad leaders. The outstanding and natural leadership abilities of its level-headed commander Captain (later Major) Richard Winters (Damien Lewis) are off-set my many who could not make the grade. Anyone in a managerial position at any corporate level would benefit from watching the varying leadership styles depicted in this film. Likewise, a handful of youths filled with a volatile mixture of naivety and bravado will, through fire and death, become a solid cadre of N.C.O's. Their role is vital not only to a successful combat mission, but also to the survival of green replacements. Yet the horrors of war affected all ranks within Easy Company and the producers wisely chose not to sugar-coat anything. Alcoholism and the murder of enemy prisoners by officers and enlisted men alike, are very real themes boldly conveyed in the film. Combat exhaustion, or "battle fatigue" is another unpleasant topic displayed in the film. Men who could not be broken physically (several of Easy Company men recovered from wounds and went A.W.O.L from hospital to rejoin their unit), succumbed to the mental strain of constant exposure to enemy fire. Looting, murder and a general callousness towards the German civilian population after witnessing the horrors of a concentration camp, are also very real occurrences that took place within the entire European Theater at war's end. Band of Brothers is not only an action-packed and riveting war picture, but also an accurate social history of the American G.I. in World War II. Any combat veteran, particularly those who fought in Europe, can relate to the experiences (both internal and external) of these men. Any relative of a combat veteran, regardless of what unit he served, will gain a better understanding of their loved-one's experiences. Captains Winters, Nixon; Lieutenant Speirs, Compton; Sergeants Lipton, Martin, Randleman, Toye, Guarnere, Malarkey and others are not made-up characters, they are real men. And it is their real-life experiences, so accurately captured in this film that defies any screenwriter's pen. I cannot recommend this package highly enough. Five stars...Bravo!

That modesty and that sentiment seems to be shared by all the survivors of Easy Company, 506th PRI, and many of them can't hold back the tears as they mumble it. One of the great benefits of this marvelous series was the closeup interviews of the real men portrayed, those wonderful old seamed faces, breaking at last with emotion as they recall their experiences and the love of their comrades and the pain of loss of other friends. It moves me greatly, and I'm glad the Extras in this set has an extended documentary re-tracing the time-frame of the film with these real veterans recalling the action we've seen re-created. Brought with loving care and fanatic attention to detail by producers Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks and their carefully chosen band of producers, directors and actors, this is an unsentimental, near-documentary telling of the story of Easy Co. from training to D-Day, Hedge Row fighting, Operation Market Garden, Bastogne, into Germany, liberation of Death Camps, and the capture of Berchesgarden & Hitler's Eagle's Nest. Throughout it all, the aim has been to tell it straight and get it right. They have done so in remarkable style. The truth HAS enough drama, and the various episodes reveal it. We get to know these men and care about them. We marvel at their endurance and the way they go about getting the job done, professionally, and with matter-of-fact, everyday courage. It is a true tribute to the Citizen Soldiers who won the war. With 10 episodes and lots of extra goodies, presented within an exceptional package, there is just too much to review here. Some memorable moments: the harrowing jump into the explosive, tracer-lit night skies of Normandy; the assault on the 88's; Winter's killing the young German; the episode dedictated to the Medic; the monstrous artillery barrage on the men in the snowy forest of Bastogne; the shock of the farmer's wife on seeing the closeup hand-to-hand killing of the German by "Bull"; and finally, the incredibly moving scenes of the liberation of the Concentration Camp, and the final days of Easy at the War's end. These last episodes are all the more powerful because we have followed Easy Co. and these men and have seen the death so random and arbitrary around and among them that a slow emotional tension has been built that we now realize with the intensity of anger/pity/horror at the Camps and the bittersweet joy and subsequent farewell of VE day. I could cite great moments by each individual actor, and nicely played and effectively understated but powerfully emotional scenes but suffice it to say this is an ensemble piece with superb performances throughout. The quiet power of the different episodes underscores how wonderfully written the entire piece is, and with corresponding excellent direction and production values. A one-of-a-kind production, having the time to tell the tale with detail and care, and with all involved doing honor to the men who lived it. And finally, there are those men, bringing it all back to the reality of real lives lived. Exceptional stuff.

I saw this series on TV when it first came out in the 2000s. I had stumbled across Stephen Ambrose's WW2 books when my late husband was in M. D. Anderson Cancer Center hospital in Houston, TX in early 2000. I had picked up a Reader's Digest Condensed Book from lobby of hotel where I was staying and took it to his room to read something to him each afternoon. One of Ambrose's books was featured and I began to read it to him as the days went along. I had never heard of Ambrose until that time and found his works to be so fascinating. I grew up during WW2 as a child and all that took place in my hometown connected to that event left a deep impression on the me. My brother in law was in an anti-aircraft unit in Europe and landed on the D-Day beaches about 10 days after June 6, 1944 and later fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I bought this series of DVDs sometime in the mid 2000s to send to a close friend of my late husband. This friend had served in Europe during WW2 in Army and was of German descent. He was the consummate historian and after the war was over, took part in the Nuremberg trials. He could quote verse and chapter of the events of WW2 and I thought this would be a great gift for him. Sadly he passed away about 7 months after I had sent the series to him and his son gave the original gift of Band of Brother back to me after his father's death. I think Band of Brothers captures WW2 the most accurately of any movie I've ever seen. Yes, it is brutal in parts but the cohesiveness of those soldiers in Easy Company is inspiring. I do not think again in our lives we will ever see the USA as united as it was during WW2. People for the most came together and supported the war effort and did their part either with sons and husband in the armed forces or families at home enduring the life style of our country at war. About 3 years ago, my present husband and I were traveling back from NC to our home here in Georgia. We stopped at the small town of Toccoa, Georgia in the foothills of the North Georgia mountains and visited The Band of Brothers museum that has been established there to honor those men of Easy Company. It is a small excellent museum manned by volunteers and well worth a visit. And yes, Mt. Currahee still stands. I have again this week of July 22nd watched my DVDs of Band of Brothers and once more felt inspired and proud of what my country did and accomplished during those very extremely difficult times during World War 2. I cannot recommend this DVD enough for those who care for their country and have not forgotten the sacrifices made by so many during that dark time in this country's history.

Lots of Hollywood efforts toward dramatizing WW2 look too glossy, make the death too sanitized or far flung gore. Human relations are usually lost, and love stories thrown in to grab the girls. It becomes about the grit, the determination, and the supermen on the line. But, in this mini-series you get actual relations of people in the military ranks, to leadership, to each other, and shows them dealing with the chaos of war in a very human approach and without piles of blood and intestines strewn through the shots to hammer home the idea that someone died. Made by the 'Private Ryan' heads, I found this film much better. 'Private Ryan' was rather boring. It did what it had to do - punctuate the hell of D-Day, and then get you into the closer fighting in towns, and the lack of orientation that must happen in heated battles. But 'Ryan' seemed like a comic book compared to this adaptation of a book by a US soldier in WWII. 'Band Of Brothers' takes you through the entire experience of the war, and makes it work by making a stew of solid entertainment crafted from great acting, great writing and script editing, great directing (most times), great lighting, great effects, great characters, great settings, and wonderful detail. Is it precisely historic? Who can really say? The Euros and war-sissies always get strung out on anything that isn't their view of events from a distant seat. From what I know of WW2 and how people are under pressure in situations of danger, this sure seems absolutely plausible. But, what does it matter? The purpose of this is to create an escapism drama wrapped around real people and events. And it succeeds 110%. The weakest facet of most all dramatic simplifications of complex histories is that they can easily lose many people that are not intimately aware of the geography, time line, or greater events surrounding the subject portrayed. 'Band of Brothers' would have really been aided by the old standard of a map with arrows animating along to show how the troops were progressing, or where they were at every part of the story (usually beginning of episodes). It really was getting confusing during the battle of the bulge when the 101st was surrounded, but you never get the idea they were truly surrounded or cut off, and have no idea where this all is taking place; fox holes, town, blue lighting, yellow lighting, two worlds apart, people say things, we can't tell what is going on, somehow it is connected. Despite the nay saying, this really does show a lot of the earthy and practical attitudes of Americans under fire. Some falter, some crack, some die, some harden themselves, some are afraid, some fool hardy, and true to the history they make it work by applying pressure and standing ground. You can tell how everyone is changed by the war, and how most will go back home and have trouble sleeping for decades to come after all they were through. Contrary to the soldier who commented a while back, I remember seeing a documentary that related how Eisenhower came into Berlin, or some part of Germany at the end of the war, saw the unshaven, sloppy, dirty, US soldiers contrasted against the clean, proper lines and energy of the Germans, and said something like, 'We have to do something. Our soldiers look like sacks of garbage.' And thus, Ike got the army uniform trimmed. 'Band' shows the men slowly becoming dirtier, more unkempt, and scattered through the heavy battles up to the end of the war when they cleaned up very well after the pressure was off. I don't envy the men of WW2, but I sure do thank them for a job well done. And I thank Hanks/Spielberg for dramatizing it so effectively.

I own the “Band of Brothers” series on Blu-ray and it is truly outstanding! Here is some insight into the interviews given to me by the man who conducted the interviews with the men of Easy Company, Mark Cowen… In 2012, I took a filmmaking class with Mark Cowen, who directed the Emmy nominated, “We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company”. During the class, he described to us what it was like interviewing the veterans of Easy Company. In order to get access to these men, he had to go through the “Biggest Brother”, Major Richard “Dick” Winters. Mark said that, even after so many years, Major Winters still commanded the respect of his troops and that they would do what he asked. Major Winters got on the phone and made some calls that went something like this, “This is Winters. I’m sending a man over to interview you. I want you to tell him everything he wants to know” or words to that effect. Mark said that this is the only way he could have gotten access to them and for them to tell their stories for these interviews. Mark faced a difficult problem before any of the interviews started. How could he make them “open up” to his questions and speak freely about these often painful experiences and memories? He couldn’t just go in and say, “Can you tell me what you did during the war”. Knowing that these men wouldn’t want to talk about themselves he came up with an idea which worked very well. He started each interview by asking, “Who was your best friend during the war? What was he like?” That is how he got these brave men to speak freely and express themselves as openly as they did on camera. Many of the men Mark interviewed had never told anyone about their combat experiences during the war, not even their families. While relating some of their stories, the brave veterans would sometimes break down and cry. Mark told us he often found himself crying along with them. During one of the interviews, an old veteran slowly came out and sat down. He started speaking about the war and his time with Easy Company. As the camera rolled and the interview progressed, Mark could hear this veteran’s family come up from behind to watch and listen to their loved one relate stories of bravery, of death, of friendship and of pain, which they had never heard. When he finished the interview, Mark turned to find not only the veteran’s family but also a lot of their neighbors standing there. Some were weeping quietly while others struggled to restrain from sobbing. Scenes like this became common during the interviews he did with these brave, old warriors. I often think of what Mark Cowen told us that day about his interview for, “We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company”. I wanted to get together with him again to hear more about these interviews but sadly, he passed away shortly thereafter, on September 10, 2012.

So much has been written about "Band of Brothers" that I am hesitant to comment about an undertaking this magnificent. Following E ("Easy") Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne throughout their World War Two trials, the production, script, direction, and acting combine to make this possibly the most compelling production about war and the camaraderie of men who have served in combat together that has ever been filmed, and for that we own Stephen Ambrose, Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg genuine gratitude. Ambrose wrote the book on which the series is based, and oddly, while good, I didn't find the book in the same league as the series, or Dick Winters' autobiography (which I highly recommend.) The genius here was in the synthesis of excellent scripts, general historical accuracy, a perfect cast, first-rate special effects, and a keen directorial eye, which resulted in a sum far greater than its parts. While I was floored by the entire cast, I have to single out a few for special mention. First and foremost, Damian Lewis as Maj. Dick Winters gave one of the greatest performances in cinema history. Period. There is no way that his nuanced performance could have been improved upon by anyone. Ron Livingston also gave the performance of a lifetime as Winters' best friend, Capt. Lewis Nixon. We can also thank Livingston for his good humored behind-the-scenes video diaries which are included as extras in the set. Donnie Wahlberg likewise gave a great performance as Carwood Lipton, the most mature of the soldiers, while Neal McDonough perfected the role of the sensitive Lt. Buck Compton, a brave man troubled by the horrors he had endured. Finally, Matthew Settle appears as Capt. Ronald Speirs, an enigmatic warrior, whose legend is (perhaps) bigger than the man himself, and who has some mighty big shoes to fill when Winters departs for a headquarters position. The cast is huge, but suffice it to say that every single cast member was superior in their role. The DVD set comes with numerous features, including a "Making of 'Band of Brothers'" feature (which could have been longer in my opinion,) and a superior documentary about the real men of Easy Company, called "We Stand Alone Together." Unlike most sets of this size and scope, every single minute is worth watching, re-watching, and truly absorbing. It's amazing what these men did for the world and the cause of freedom, and I am grateful to everyone who participated in this undertaking for helping preserve this important piece of history and American heritage.

as described

I purchased this series as a gift for my adult son. He was enthralled by it when he first saw some of the exploits on HBO. He watched it and raved about it until I was finally allowed to "borrow" it and judge for myself. I will have to admit it is a spell-binding series to sit through. I have developed an affinity for "action" movies and "war" movies and this series does not disappoint. I thought "Schindler's List" was great in its time...and still think so. "Saving Private Ryan" was another favorite and I still believe it is one of the best war movies of all time. So, where does "Band of Brothers" fit into this heirarchy?? It is hard for me to say exactly. I have developed sort of a love/hate relationship with it. I use that term (love/hate..) to describe the emotional turmoil I feel, not my feelings toward the project!! In the first place, how do you compare a made for TV mini-series with a wide screen cinematic event? It is difficult at best because the portrayal of Easy Company takes place over ten to twelve hours allowing the viewer time to assimilate the story and to develop bonds with the characters that simply cannot take place in a two to three hour cinematic portrayal. For that reason I believe that "Band of Brothers" reaches into areas and touches virgin ground in its portrayal of the intricacies of war. Does that mean that a mini-series is a better venue than a feature film?? Not always, but maybe in this particular situation it is. So, if this project is so good, why only four stars..?? That's a good question and I am not certain that I can answer it. When you watch something this BIG, you expect BIG. You expect big plot lines and big characters. You expect big sets and big cinematography and big sequences. You expect big dialog and big action. And you expect your characters to display big emotion and demand a lot of empathy. And, for the most part, this series delivers all of that. I just wonder if it's really as good as I think it is. The main characters are well developed. I especially appreciate the efforts of Winston, Nixon, and Speirs. These characters lead the procession of Easy Company across France and Germany and along with many others form the nucleus around which the series revolves. There are many other characters who figure prominently in the series and are present in almost every episode. I haven't counted characters and episodes so I don't know for certain, but it seems like there are a lot of the same characters portrayed. This would make sense, both from a producer/director standpoint and from the standpoint of a real life military combat unit. Except in cases of extreme casualty losses, units tend to stay together and new or different faces are not too frequent. I think that the extended casting necessary for a project of this size is part of my reluctance to admit that this effort is in fact the "best" and worthy of that rating. I think it is impossible to fully develop all of those characters...yet I would like to see that happen. I don't know, it's probably just me!! In any event, this series, "Band of Brothers" is too well done and too grand to miss. As a war portrayal it covers events in a way never before seen and goes into detail never before attempted. I think it is important to remember the touchstone phrase "suspension of disbelief" because we are dealing with a man-made portrayal of a particular series of events that actually happened. And while not one hundred percent accurate to recorded history, it is very close. And "very close" in this case means an ALMOST perfect portrayal. Don't miss this one!!