Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers

After all these years, I can't believe I had never seen Band of Brothers. I wanted to; I just never got around to it for one reason or another. Someone asked me if I was avoiding it because I was worried that the show wouldn't live up to the hype. It is after all considered one of the crown jewels of HBO's creative output. I don't think I was ever worried about it living up to the hype. I knew it would be good. And I am happy to report that it lived up to everything everyone said it would be.

Following one particular airborne company, Easy Company, throughout their adventures in World War II, this 10-part miniseries takes us through their training, D-Day, Market Garden, the brutal siege of Bastogne, post-war occupation, and the Holocaust. And the most remarkable part is that it is all true.

Saving Private Ryan certainly changed the way war films were made - its brilliant use of color (or lack thereof), sped up frame rates, and realistic depiction of war had an immediate impact on the genre. Band of Brothers is its spiritual successor, using much of the same filmmaking techniques (no surprise considering both Spielberg and Hanks produced the miniseries), but it is in no way inferior to Spielberg's war film. Saving Private Ryan is a great movie that is dragged down by heavy-handed bookends. Band of Brothers just gets down to business. There are no real Hollywood moments, no "messages;" it just presents the story as realistically as possible.

There is stellar work from a great cast of mostly unknowns; and this represents career best performances for a whole slew of good actors - Neal McDonough, Ron Livingstone, Donnie Wahlberg, David Schwimmer. The whole cast excels along the board.

Some people have complained that there are too many characters in the film and that it is hard to follow each individual's story. And that makes the overall storyline muddled. I think those critics missed the point. This is not the story of each individual member of Easy Company. This is the story of Easy Company itself. And each episode showcases a few different members in the company in order to explain what the Company as a whole was going through. To have given us one soldier to act as our guide for ten hours may have allowed for a more effective story/character arc over the 10 hours, but it would have been dishonest and a disservice to the other men of Easy Company. Besides, a Hollywood-style main hero isn't needed. There are heroics enough in this film.

But there is also the other side of the coin, which is what is truly remarkable about the miniseries. The Allies weren't all heroes and Band of Brothers shows us the whole ordeal, warts and all. Sometimes we killed German prisoners who had already surrendered. Sometimes we raided houses, stealing silverware and other valuables. And sometimes surprisingly role reversals occur, such as the German surgeon who rushes to a field hospital to operate on and save the life of an American sergeant who had been shot in the head by a drunk private. The miniseries doesn't judge these events. It just shows us.  This is what happens, and we can't truly understand unless we've been a part of it. Band of Brothers shows the good and the bad, both the viciousness and violence of war, and also the special bonds that battle forges between soldiers and the random acts of kindness that helped alleviate the surrounding madness.

SPOILERS HERE: There are some of my favorite moments in "Band of Brothers" that will stick with me, and I wanted to share a few.

Easy Company finding the Holocaust camp is among the most harrowing and horrifying things I have ever seen. Words can't really describe it, but I don't think I've ever seen this much pain and suffering onscreen. And as the rail-thin and sickly Jewish prisoners start crying and hugging their horrified liberators, I almost started sobbing at the TV. And when Easy Company is forced to move the prisoners back into the camp, because they need to keep them in one central location to make supply drops easier...ugh, I felt sick to my stomach.

On a happier note, Easy Company at one point gets pinned down and separated into two groups, unable to communicate with each other. Captain Speirs runs straight through the German lines, just obliviously jogging by all the enemy soldiers, who just look at him confused - they are too stunned by his audacity to shoot. But what is funny is that after delivering his message, Speirs runs back to his first group, running through German lines again! This time, they open fire, but he still makes it through...its both a badass and hilarious moment, and it really happened.

The siege of Bastogne is possibly the best episode of the miniseries. With dwindling food and supplies and without their cold weather gear, Easy Company is forced to withstand a strong German offensive during the dead of winter. It's a tough episode, and you can feel the desperation and the bitter cold. The strongest moment is when Sgt. Buck Compton watches as German artillery blows the legs off of his two best friends, and he just...freezes...in horror, in shock, I don't know. But he literally has to fight to get the word "Medic!" out of his mouth. It's harrowing, and probably the best acted moment in the series.  Go,  Neal McDonough!

Lastly, I was shocked and excited to see some of our upcoming generation of stars in Band of Brothers, not as major characters, but in tiny supporting roles. It's like watching the stars before they were stars. Oh, look, there's Simon Pegg (Shawn of the Dead) driving by in a jeep. Oh, look, there's Tom Hardy (Inception) directing traffic at a crossroads. Oh, look, there's Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) leading a platoon into battle. Oh, look, there's James McAvoy (Atonement) smoking a cigarette. Oh, look, there's Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) wandering around Berchtedgaden. It's kind of fun to watch the miniseries for this reason alone!

All in all, this is a superb miniseries and has earned its reputation with stellar acting, directing, and writing. This isn't a crown jewel for HBO. It might be THE crown jewel. It's certainly one of the greatest war productions ever made, and a must-see.

MVP: As good as all the elements are in Band of Brothers, I am going to have to say the real MVPs are the veterans. Each episode begins with interviews with the surviving veterans of Easy Company, and they are clearly the MVPs of the miniseries. I don't mean this is a smaltzy way (though in all honesty, they do also deserve the MVP just for what they did in the war). These short interviews with the veterans are easily the best part of Band of Brothers. To hear some of these stories in their own words is important and enthralling. And from a filmmaking perspective, by showing us the real veterans of Easy Company, the directors are constantly reminding the audience that the characters in the episodes are not "characters" at all, but real men. And that all the horrors they faced were real. It's a brilliant storytelling technique that swings a huge emotional punch.

TRIVIA: On a heavy day of filming, up to 14,000 rounds of ammunition could be used! By the third episode, the producers had used more explosives and pyrotechnics than the entire production of Saving Private Ryan.

BEST LINE: Richard Winters quoting Mike Ranney: "My grandson, who asked, "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?" Grandpa said, "No, but I served in a company of heroes."