Film Review: Band of Brothers, 2001

NB - Another unfinished post from the vaults is dusted off and put online.

As I type this I'm watching 'Points', the tenth and final instalment of the Band of Brothers TV series. I'm starting to lose count of how many times I've seen it now. This - perhaps my fifth or sixth viewing - was possible thanks to being laid up with a cold; every cloud has a silver lining, eh?

Based on the book by Stephen Ambrose, Band of Brothers is ten episodes long, and follows Easy Co., 2nd Battalion of the 506 Paratroops, 101st Airborne Div., from training in the U.S. to wars end in the territories of the 'Third Reich', via England, France, Belgium and Holland. 

Soldiers of the real Easy Company.

Damian Lewis is excellent as Richard 'Dick' Winters.

The real Winters.

An ensemble piece, with different episodes following different characters, witn Damian Lewis' Richard Winters character at the centre of the story, it seeks - and very largely succeeds - to be both accurately historical, and compelling TV drama. There's some license with history, mostly compressing stuff to fit it into the narrative, with little that's plain wrong (although there are, as always in such human endeavours, errors and ommisions).

Costing $125 million, it was the most expensive TV-miniseries ever, until eclipsed by companion piece The Pacific. Largely filmed in England, with some 'Fatherland' segments filmed in Switzerland, it's a properly epic production, superbly staged. Fussy gear buffs will love the accurate materiel. My only gripe on this front is the fake snow in the winter scenes (Bastogne, Foy). How all this was done is shown in the DVD extras. It's incredibly impressive.

The production is spectacular. [1]

David Schwimmer as tight-ass disciplinarian Capt. Sobel, martinet of Currahee.

For Ron Livingston's Lewis Nixon, fond of a drop of Vat 69, Goering's private cellar is heaven.

The cast are, by and large, superb. And one really does become drawn into the stories of the protagonists. I'm certain I'm not alone in 'googling' various characters and events as I watched this each time, to correlate history with events as they're depicted here. It's obvious from info on the web that the series has spawned an immense amount of interest in this period of history, which has to be good. 

Of course there's an important difference between drama and history. And sometimes it seems people who've seen this take it as unadorned fact. Of course it isn't. Tom Hanks and co. have obviously aimed for accuracy, authenticity, and so on. But he and his team have also been candid about the process of turning history into TV drama.

A tense moment... the series doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of war. [2]

Atrocities by both sides are shown, and the ambiguities and the fog of war have their part to play. Both sides are also depicted with a clear even-handedness, sometimes even surprisingly so. The Holocaust is covered in the 'Why We Fight' episode, but we are not spared scenes of summary executions of Germans, or even 'collateral damage' in the Allied ranks. 

All facets of the war as these guys experienced are covered, from jump training at Taccoa, in the U.S, via England and D-Day, to France, with Bastogne, Foy and Hagenau, en-route to Bavaria and Austria, winding up at Berchtesgaden, and Hitler's 'Eagle's Nest'. From r'n'r, and training and supply behind the lines, to the mud and blood of conflict, there's stuff here for most tastes.

The real Easy Co. at The Eagle's Nest.

And a similar yet different view of the HBO scene.

One notable absence is any concession to a romantic subplot. I don't miss this, as such threads in this kind of drama are all too often incongruous distractions. It's interesting that in The Pacific there's a clear choice include this usual staple of even war dramas. The Pacific is a bloodier and more intense series, combat wise. Judging the two series against each other is tricky. For a whole I thought I preferred The Pacific, after first seeing it. Now I think both series are brilliant, and probably about equal in merit.

Some might think Hanks and co., and indeed America as a whole - the term 'The Greatest Generation' became a popular description of the generation that fought WWII - continue to be over-reverential in their attitudes to the war. Michael Kamen's magisterial and mournful signature theme (influencing war movie theme-music worldwide that came after!) captures this feeling. That may well be true. Whatever the case, Band of Brothers is a superb achievement, and a terrifically compelling and enjoyable TV-series.

Ze vorr is over, ja? Ve all kamerdan now!

To their great credit, BOB gives due respect to the German army, perhaps best of all in a moving speech delivered by Wolf Kahler.

Winters accepts the surrender of a German officer, played by Philip Rahm: note similar set of German jaws!

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NOTES:

[1] I think I heard, or read somewhere, that quite a lot of the filming was done in Hertfordshire. Or if not Herts, then certainly somewhere in England.

[2] This particular scene, from the final epsode Points, is perhaps one of the most harrowing. Another is the summar execution of a former (presumed) German soldier, in an idyllic bucolic pastoral setting.

WWII Media: HBO Pacific Tin Box

Powerful, compelling, moving. You thought Band of Brothers was good? This is even better.

Having acquired the Band Of Brothers 'tin box' some years ago, I finally got around to getting this. And boy am I glad I did. Band of Brothers is excellent, but this is - in my view - even better. I've now watched both series numerous times, and will doubtless watch them again in the future.

The series follows the 1st Marine Division into battle in several key actions in the Pacific theatre - Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa. Chiefly, we follow the action via the experiences of Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge (whose memoirs formed the basis of the series, and which I have reviewed here on this blog). There’s also a smaller thread concerning the fate of gunnery sergeant John Basilone, whose actions at Guadalcanal lead to decoration and adulation, as he's cast as an all-American hero, sent home to raise war-bonds back in the U.S, before returning to combat at Iwo Jima. 

Decorated war hero John Basilone, wearing his Medal of Honor. Sent back to the U.S. to raise war bonds, Basilone starts to feel alienated and out of place, and yearns to return to his buddies, and ... combat.

Jon Seda as Basilone, rushing towards his destiny.

Pretty much all aspects of the campaign - leaving home, time en-route, combat, time behind the lines, home leave, injury and recuperation, etc, - are depicted, and the range of settings and scenarios is complemented by an equally diverse range of atmospheres, ranging from tender romance to brutal combat.

As is so well depicted here, the Pacific theatre could clearly be just as terrifying and intense as the European one: whilst Nazi racial policy in Europe was as extreme as such things can be, particularly on the Ostfront, it was being carried out predominantly against civilians, and with particular virulence in the East.

Obviously there was plenty of horrific brutality, even in the Western European combat theatre as well, but there was also a certain degree of fellow-feeling between some of the ordinary soldiery. I'm making these comments in relation to how both sides of this coin are portrayed in Band of Brothers.

Assault on Peleliu beach pinned down.

But, sadly, the Japanese had their own form of racial extremism, which appears to have run right the way through their military culture, such that not only was the 'death before dishonour' idea pursued  with ferovious intensity by all ranks, but also their contempt for both enemy soldiers and civilians was made frequently and appallingly manifest.

The Japanese fought rabidly, and were infamously brutal to their foes, frequently manifesting the same type of ferocious brutality that made the rape of Nanking so infamous. These traits were pretty common, it seems, amongst all levels of their soldiery, all over this theatre of combat.

The acting and direction, the scene-setting and special effects, the script and the overall arc of the narrative, all are superlatively well done. As well as obvious concern for historical accuracy, and, despite the brutality of the war, a clear intent to be even-handed, all make for a very, very good piece of long-form war-time storytelling. I was absolutely captivated, and riveted - albeit occasionally rather jumpily - to my seat. 

Leckie during the war.

Actor James Badge Dale as Leckie, in the series.

Sledge during the war.

Joseph Mazello, as Sledge.

This is compulsive viewing. I liked it so much I even watched some of the extras, which I don't normally bother with. I've also subsequently read a couple of the memoirs that formed the basis of the action: as with Band of Brothers, the series follows the fortunes of several key protagonists, chiefly Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie.It's their memoirs I read, and they are well worth reading, but the reading experience doesn't convey the visceral impact that this series achieves so spectacularly well.*

Truly brilliant watching this. I just wish someone would approach the Napoleonic Wars with a similar budget and seriousness of intent! When I bought this, at Amazon UK, it cost just £15. At this point (having just checked back on Amazon at the time of posting this) it's just £15.99... bargain!

* I'll be posting my short reviews of both books here ASAP).