Band of Brothers

2/02/03 - DVD Review

With the recent success of Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have once again teamed up in the era of World War II.  What they have created is a ten part miniseries for HBO called Band of Brothers.  This is the story of the brave men from the 506^th regiment of the 101^st airborne division of the Army.  Displaying the visual styles of Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers take us through Easy Company’s roles during the invasion of Normandy and the missions to follow.  This miniseries event won six Emmy Awards when it premiered on HBO last winter.  Now, it has been released in a collectors tin with all ten episodes displayed in widescreen and Dolby Digital.  Each episode has a brief introduction by people that took part in the War.  It is like Saving Private Ryan, but longer.

1. Curahee

On the eve of the Normandy invasion, the men of the paratroopers division are on the edge of their seats anticipating the jump into the enemy’s back yard.  Lieutenant’s Nixon and Winters of Easy Company reflect back to the past two years of their life.  Paratrooper training was tough especially when it was led by Commander Sobel, or David Scwhimmer.  He plays a hard as nails drill sergeant who is a real pain in the ass.  There is no fun and games when he is around.  His tactics pay off though because Easy Company flies to the top of all the other divisions.  But, Sobel as a field commander is a different story as he continuously gets his men killed in training missions, which leads to his reassignment.  Jump forward two years to the eve of the jump.  LT. Winters, who was a XO to Sobel now has gained the trust of the men and pulls everyone up from the ground one by one, as they get onto the planes.   The episode ends as the paratroopers are flying over France ready for deployment. 

A very good episode to get the show started.  It sets the tone for the episodes to follow.  David Schwimmer should stick to Friends because he is no drill sergeant.  He pushes everyone harder than they have been pushed before, but they press on because they truly hate him and they want to show perfection.  We learn that the men of Easy Company will stop at nothing to protect each and every one of their fellow troopers.  Ron Livingston is a good choice as LT. Nixon even though he didn’t have a lot of screen time.  The episode ends at a great spot as the paratroopers are preparing to jump into the war-strickened land.  I can’t wait for the next episode. 

2.  Day of Days

Episode two starts off right where the first part left us.  All the planes are carrying the paratroopers but they come under fire from German artillery fire.  They are forced to jump early which causes them to be scattered all throughout Normandy.  Lt. Winters eventually meets up with the rest of the boys from Easy Company as they prepare for a mission.  The commander of the company has been missing since the jump so that puts Winters in command for the raid on the German battery complex which is trying to stop the beach invasion.  Together, with the help from his men, Easy Company takes out the battery with a decisive victory.    

This was an awesome episode, especially when they storm the German battery.  The action scenes look like Saving Private Ryan with the same visual styles.  The battle was pulse pounding and a thrill to see.  The paratrooper drop was pretty cool too.  Tom Hanks knows what he wants as it truly showed during this whole episode.  When I first saw the series, I thought that this one was my best, and I still think that.   

3.  Carentan

The soldiers of Easy Company are once again put at the head of the line to attack the German held town of Carentan.  They easily capture it because most of the Germans pulled out the night before.  They are told to push on and take out the threat of a counter attack.  Easy Company runs into a bunch of Germans with tanks and heavy artillery but with the help of Third Armory, they crush the opposition.  On a side note, the episode revolves around a Private Albert Blithe who is too scared to fight.  The episode his about him coming to terms with himself in this War.  With the help of LT. Winters, Blithe starts to fight, but in the end he gets shot in the neck and subsequently never recovers. 

This is just as good as the last episode.  Over half of this shows the guys taking on the German Armies.  The action sequences are done very well as they are true to life with some very graphic shots as well.  HBO really took their time to make this an accurate depiction.  They use Blithe to show that everybody is feeling exactly what he is feeling even though they chose to block it out and fight.  War is hell. 

4.  Replacements

Easy Company receives some much needed reinforcements from “replacement” soldiers to fill the void left by the many casualties.  Of course the new guys get pushed around by the veterans, but they still do their job in the field.  Easy Company is sent out on a mission called “Operation Market Garden” to liberate the town of Eindhoven, Holland.  This was an attempt by the allies to win the War and be home in time for Christmas.  When they get there, all of the German soldiers have pulled back to the town of Nuenen.  Easy pushes on to there but they are defeated by a larger German army.  They are forced to retreat after taking heavy casualties.  The attempt to end the War by Christmas had failed. 

This is another good episode with great battle scenes.  Each episode is done by a different director so they have their own distinguishable style.  They all have done a great job up to this point.  I felt bad for the women in Eindhoven who were getting their heads shaved and banned from the town because they slept with the Germans.  There is a nice sub-plot going on here as well as Bull gets left behind in the town of Nuenen.  He has to survive the night with hundreds of Germans using the road by the barn he has camped out in.  It is a nice solo effort.   

5.  Crossroads

Captain Winters gets promoted to XO of the Battalion after he leads his men against two companies of SS soldiers.  Winters shows great bravery, leadership and skillful war tactics.  He ends up getting a desk job but he is concerned over the new leadership of Easy Company.  Winters questions the commanders about the safety of his former men that he once commanded.  Easy Company is then sent into the “Crossroads” of the Ardennes Forest in Bastogne to stop the German attempt of breaking through the Allied lines.   Easy is ill-equipped to fight the battle, with a lack of supplies and most importantly, warm clothing.

Tom Hanks gets to sit in the director’s chair as he puts his own ideas into this episode.  He shows Winters as a hero who is down to Earth and not really caught up with the politics.  He cares for his men and everyone else around him.  Tom Hanks shows this very well with a series of flashbacks when Winters takes the Dutch Dike.  Tom Hanks delivers a great piece of story telling. 

6.  Bastogne

Easy Company is sent out to Bastogne, Belgium to stop the German advance.  They are without equipment, medical supplies, and ammunition.  This takes place during the winter months of 1944, most notably over Christmas.  The episode follows around a medic, whose name is Eugene Roe.  We see from his point of view, everything that is going on around him.  He is severely undersupplied and a long way from home.  The Germans shell the forest every night as they try to break through, but the soldiers stand their ground.  However, the members of Easy Company will never forget that forest. 

This has got to be one of the best episodes of the series so far.  The shelling of Bastogne was hell for all of the soldiers and the producers did a good job of showing that.  I liked the fact that they showed the episode from the medic’s perspective.  I think this way really shows what it was like over there, besides just the bullets and the shells that zoom across the screen.  To see the soldiers suffer as much as they did makes me glad that I was not there.  Tom Hanks has delivered yet again, albeit this time from the producers chair. 

7.  The Breaking Point

After holding the German advance in Bastogne, Easy is sent to the front of the line again to clear the town of Foy and the surrounding areas.  As they prepare to take the town, Easy holds the line in the forest as they take constant barrages of shells from the German artillery.  Many of the soldiers either die or get seriously injured in the attacks.  When they attack the town, Captain Winters orders Easy's Lieutenant to command the troops but once again he fails to do his job correctly.  He is replaced with D Company’s LT. Spears who helps to take the town. 

This episode was very slow until the half way point when the fighting started to pick up.  The episode is told from the point of view of Sergeant Lipton.  Much like the previous episode, this way is a good change from the typical story.  The Breaking Point was more about the soldiers and the physical and mental affects of this new mission.  It was said that if you didn’t get injured physically, you were hit even harder mentally which caused some soldiers to “lose it" in the field.  Other episodes have been better than this one, but it had its moments, especially when Spears ran right through the German occupied town. 

8.  The Last Patrol

Easy Company arrives in the town of Haguenau which is separated by a river with a town infested with Germans.  Even though they are short of men, the General orders 15 men to cross the river and capture some German prisoners.  They complete the mission but in the process lose one more soldier.  The following night Captain Winters is ordered to send the men over again but he decides against this and has Nixon fill out a bogus report.  The men would not have made it back if they would have gone in.  At the end, because of all of their sacrifices, they are finally pulled off the line. 

Seems like Tom Hanks wants to give his son, Colin, some movie acting experience.  Colin plays a Lieutenant fresh out of West Point.  He has no combat experience but he convinces the officers to let him join the patrol.  The episode was another one to show how much Easy Company went through to win the war.  Everybody has truly found themselves in their character, and they portray the company as a whole in a good heart.  Much like the others, this episode is a realistic portrayal of WWII.

9.  Why We Fight

The allies finally enter Germany to help put an end to the War.  Easy Company is finally getting some much needed rest as the 17^th Division takes their place on the front line.  Captain Nixon has developed a drinking problem which causes him to get demoted from his high officer status.  He and some of the other men start to question why they are there in the first place fighting this War.  Towards the end of the episode, a group of men from Easy are on a patrol in a nearby forest where they come across one of the many concentration camps in Germany as the news comes in that Hitler is dead.

This episode is more than just a story about Easy Company. As the title suggests, it explains why the World is fighting this War against Hitler.  Why, because of all of these POW and concentration camps all across the country.  This was shocking to see on the screen as well as disturbing because of the way these innocent people were treated.  If you thought that you should not be fighting that War, then this was your reasoning.  I only read about this stuff, I never saw pictures or anything but this shows everything that was described to me.  What a terrible atrocity that Hitler committed. 

10.  Points

Easy Company enters Austria where they learn that the Germans have surrendered to the Allies.  They are the first company to ride into Hitler’s fortress, “Eagle's Nest.” As they await their next orders, the men take pleasure in the spoils of victory as they have the best time since the start of the War.  They live it up with all of what Austria has to offer.  Some of the men that have enough “points”, 85 to be exact, are allowed to be discharged and be sent home.  As the rest of the men ponder the inevitable ship-off off to Japan, they then learn of Japan’s surrender.  The War is over.  The men finally get to go home after spending 3 years of their life in the Army.

This episode moves very slow for about the first 35 minutes or so.  It was basically a flashback told my Major Winters.  Everything was tied together nicely though, as the men finally get to go home.  This episode takes a good look back at how these men grew together like a family. At the end, Winters talks about what everyone did when they left Easy Company.  At the beginning of each episode there are interviews with the surviving members of Easy Company that look back at this time in their lives.  At the end of this episode we finally get to see who is who.  It was touching to hear these people talk, now that you know who they are.  Even though the episode was slow, it ended a great series on a positive note. 

This ten part movie series event premiered last February on HBO.  I was hooked then from the first episode to the closing remarks.  Now that they have released it on DVD, I am hooked again.  Lets face it, WWII was a terrible time, especially for the people over there.  This mini-series does a superb job of showing what it was like to be at War with the Germans.  Now that I have seen it, I still do not want to be over there.  Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg worked together to bring a truly amazing story to the big screen, and the best part of all is that it is all true.  My hat goes off to them. 

Each episode was put together with a great attention to detail as the producers try to make it as realistic as possible.  Seeing body limbs unattached from bodies was a common occurrence.  It was very realistic.  Each episode is told in a different light has each director puts his own spin on things.  The same qualities carry over to each episode though.  The acting, directing, special effects, and most importantly, the story, did not falter at any point in the ten part series.  I watched as the men of Easy Company grew together as one big family.  These men would do anything for one another just to make it through the war.  Seeing the original members of Easy Company talk about the War at the beginning of the episodes and at the end of the series shows the devotion to one another.  This devotion to one another can be summed up by what Richard Winters said at the end of the series: "My grandson came up to me the other day and asked if I was hero in the War.  I told him, I was in a company of heroes."

This six DVD set is a must for anybody that owns a DVD player.  Selling it in a collectors tin was an excellent choice.  This is a piece of history that we are watching and it should be treated as such.  I would like to see it being shown in schools.  It is true to life like I said before.  The sound and video were amazing, much like that of Saving Private Ryan in 1998.  Explosions fill your room with deep bass hits and the smashing of buildings hitting the ground.  The Bastogne sequence is one of the most fantastic displays of firepower that I have even seen.  The video is even in widescreen so if you have a widescreen TV, show it off.  This set is demo capable.  The whole set is like ten movies of Saving Private Ryan, so if you remember the demo quality of that then this is no different. 

This sixth disc contains hours of special features.  First is a documentary entitled "We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company."  This eighty minute documentary is a look back as told by the original members of Easy Company.  It is told in the same manner that the miniseries plays out.  This was very interesting to watch, especially to hear what the members were saying about it.  Also on the disc is a making of featurette which chronicles the three-year production schedule.  Also, a good watch is the video diaries with Ron Livingston.  He goes around with a video camera and records the grueling ten day boot camp that the actors had to go through.  Finally, there is a photo gallery, a message from Jeep, and a who's who of Easy Company.  This is a truly amazing DVD set that I am glad that I own as should you. 

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