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Powerful testament to the human spirit
BAND OF BROTHERS (USA/UK TV 2001): The trials and tribulations of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, from the D-Day landings in Normandy to their capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in Austria at the end of World War II.

Co-produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, HBO's epic 10-part miniseries (based on a terrific bestselling book by the late Stephen E. Ambrose) was the most expensive TV undertaking of its day, costing a massive $120 million to produce. And, as the old saying goes, every penny is up there on the screen. Borne from the success of Spielberg's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) - with which it shares a similar dramatic and visual style - BAND OF BROTHERS' recreation of a glorious (and hard-won) chapter in American history assumed an even greater patriotic significance during its initial US broadcast, when it coincided with the horrific attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in September 2001. Written with economy and grace, and directed with emotional intensity by a series of directors (including Phil Alden Robinson, Richard Loncraine and Hanks himself) whose combined efforts achieve a genuine aesthetic uniformity, the movie is a masterpiece of storytelling and historical documentation. Punctuated by horrific battle sequences, in which the camera is placed within mere inches of the death and destruction, the film manages to transcend its educational remit by its relentless focus on the human cost of war. Almost every episode opens with testimony from surviving members of Easy Company (none of whom are identified until the end of the series), which further strengthens the emphasis which BAND OF BROTHERS - book and film - places on the bonds which drew them together in times of conflict. And, because it's a true story, there's no telling from one episode to the next which of the 'characters' will live or die, which makes it all the more potent and visceral.

The entire production represents quality writ large: Beautifully filmed on various European locations (including the UK and Austria), the movie is noble without being the least bit pompous or austere, and it manages to humanize a large cast of essential characters with small touches of humanity and humor, all of which serves to heighten the sense of terror as they descend into the maelstrom of conflict. The first - and longest - episode is deceptively staid, featuring David Schwimmer (a long way from TV's 'Friends') as the bullying, cowardly commanding officer Herbert Sobel, whose tyrannical methods nevertheless shaped Easy Company into a fighting force which eventually cut a swathe through the heart of occupied Europe. Brit actor Damian Lewis takes the spotlight thereafter as Easy Company's most respected platoon leader, Richard Winters, with Ron Livingston as his right hand man, Lewis Nixon. Other standout performances in a flawless cast include Matthew Settle as battle-hardened platoon leader Ronald Speirs whose wartime career was distinguished by numerous acts of bravery (fuelled by a unique - if morbid - personal philosophy), Shane Taylor as company medic Eugene Roe, Neal McDonough as 2nd lieutenant 'Buck' Compton (laid low by his horrific combat experiences), and Donnie Wahlberg as 1st sergeant C. Carwood Lipton, who maintained the morale of his fellow soldiers, even when the odds seemed stacked against them. Every episode has its merits, but stand-outs include David Leland's 'Bastogne' (ep. 6), which recounts the horrendous circumstances surrounding Easy Company's involvement in the Battle of the Bulge, and David Frankel's 'Why We Fight' (ep. 9), in which the full horror of the Nazi regime is uncovered in a German forest. Additionally, the closing moments of chapter 10 ('Points', directed by Mikael Salomon) are truly heartbreaking.

Like the movie itself, HBO's region 1 DVD is magnificent. Housed in a beautifully embossed metal case, all ten episodes are spread across five discs (running a total of 624m 23s). The image is letterboxed at 1.78:1, anamorphically enhanced, and picture quality is stunning throughout, with faded colors (a deliberate artistic choice) and strong contrasts. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is spectacular and horrific, designed specifically to immerse the viewer in some of the most terrifying battle scenes ever captured on film. Closed captions are included, though there are no open subtitles. Crucially, each disc contains biographical information on the soldiers represented in every episode, which allows the viewer to keep track of an extensive array of characters, and there's a useful glossary, map and timeline of Easy Company's advance across Europe. Perhaps the number of chapters per episode could have been doubled (as it stands, there are six for each instalment), but that's a minor glitch in an otherwise exemplary presentation. The sixth disc in HBO's package contains a fascinating, feature length documentary on the real members of Easy Company (essential viewing), and a series of video diaries by actor Ron Livingston of the boot camp to which many of the cast were subjected in preparation for filming, during which the actors seem to have cultivated the same bonds of friendship experienced by real soldiers in combat situations.

It's doubtful that a more fitting tribute to the men of Easy Company could have been devised than BAND OF BROTHERS, a truly remarkable experience, given the Rolls Royce treatment on DVD. By turns engrossing, provocative and deeply, profoundly moving, it stands as a testament to those who fought and died for our freedoms, almost a lifetime ago.

At last I understand
This phenomenal miniseries was co-produced by Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks, a pairing that gave us one of the most talked-about battle sequences in history with the opening scenes of the Normandy invasion in "Saving Private Ryan." Well, if you're one of the few who haven't yet seen "BoB," prepare for several scenes that are equally impressive in their intensity and realism.

Nothing has made me appreciate the combat soldier like this miniseries. Nothing has ever come close. We can all wag our heads and say, "War is hell," but the remarkable portrayal of these true stories, filmed by a production whose stated goal was to be as accurate as possible in every way, brings it home for me in a way that neither Hollywood, nor the press, nor the tales of returning veterans ever could.

But it's not just those laudable results that make it happen. It's the characterizations of such standout individuals as Winters, Garniere, Nixon, Compton, Toye, Spiers, etc., the real heroes (although they shun the word) who eagerly went forth to slay the Nazi dragon and got burned, to varying degrees, in the process. I am grateful that we live in an age when such bravery is given its due, rather than that of 30 years ago when it drew suspicion.

We live the war with these characters, from their soul-killing boot camp at the hands of possibly the worst company captain you could imagine (played brilliantly by David Schwimmer---yes, THAT David Schwimmer, clearly nobody's "Friend" here), to the nervous jump under fire over Normandy, to the firefights in the forests and fields of France and Holland, to Hitler's vaunted Eagle's Nest. Our innocence and enthusiasm are shattered and rebuilt just like theirs, and our view of war, even of life itself, is forever altered in the process. Thankfully for the viewer, we are not as deeply haunted as these fine men.

Having watched the series a couple of times, the only nitpicks I have are that the primary military advisor on the series was a Vietnam vet who, I am told, wrongly approved two anachronisms: The amount of foul language was much less among WWII veterans than presented here, and the extensive hand signals were not in use by the paratroopers whose story this is. Both would be very familiar to him from 'Nam, a generation later, but don't belong in this WWII arena.

Other than that, I have only praise and heartfelt thanks for this terrific 11-hour panorama of man's inhumanity to man and man's mechanisms for coping with same. It'll be a long time before anyone can match "Band of Brothers" in its scope, feel, and impact.

It will make you think and appreciate what others sacrificed
Band of Brothers is simply the best war story of infantrymen ever made. While no movie or drama can be absolutely correct in every historical and technical detail, Band of Brothers captures the important aspects of the experience of "E" Co, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division. Compared to the book there are some instances of dramatic license but they don't detract from the overall story. And the book itself could not capture Easy Company's experience perfectly since many of the men were killed in action or had died or were not interviewed by Ambrose.

What Band of Brothers gives you is a sense of who those men were and the comraderie and esprit de corps that made the men a fighting unit. The interviews of the actual veterans of Easy Company offers very moving and important insights into the bonds that held these men together through the hell of combat.

Band of Brothers never becomes sentimental of phony, there are no displays of John Wayne heroics or any of the typical ridiculous Hollywood exaggerations that virtually every war movie has in them. The scene where Lt. Winters leads his men and takes out several 105mm German artillery guns aimed at Utah Beach is accurate to the book's account with the exception that the pace of the operation on film was quicker than it seemed to have really happened. Winters won the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions.

What the Band of Brothers is not is one endless combat scene where scores of men are falling wounded and killed (like most war movies) because this was not the experience of Easy Co during the war. Band of Brothers shows the details that other dramas neglect: clips being ejected from M1 Garands after the 8 rounds were fired; the problems with trench feet in the winter and the medic's efforts to keep the men healthy; how men were afflicted with "combat fatigue" and the efforts of fellow soldiers to deal with these casualties.

My father was First Sergeant of his company in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and he trained and lead his men into combat in Italy and France. The 442nd was the most decorated outfit for its size and length of service in American military history. He died before Band of Brothers came out. I'm sure that he would have approved of it wholeheartedly since he said that his company was like a family--the men looked after eachother and many of them died trying to save buddies.

Band of Brothers gets this most important point across--that the men in a combat outfit develop a bond and trust that isn't seen in civilian life and that this bond and chapter in each man's life who experiences it is separate and distinct from everything else in that person's life.

Watch Band of Brothers and see what real heros are made of and think of those men who didn't come home. It will make you think of the hundreds of thousands of men who never came home and who died fighting for a future that they never got to experience. Band of Brothers should be mandatory viewing for school kids just to get them thinking about the price of freedom and prosperity.

Like the veterans of Easy Company, a day didn't go by where my father didn't think of his men--I know this since he would always mention "His men" or the name of one of his friends that was killed in the war. The veterans of WWII never could leave the past behind and this was also sad and tragic.

So watch Band of Brothers and say a thanks on Memorial Day to all of those service men and women who paid the ultimate price to make America what it is today.

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