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This ten part mini-series gives the viewer glimpses into the men of Easy Company, a unit which took a higher rate of casualties than any other US unit in the war (over 160%). It begins with their training in Georgia and ends with the occupation of Bavaria before jumping to the present day with interviews of the soldiers the show was based on. In between are all the major battles this legendary unit found itself in. It is easy to compare this move with Saving Private Ryan, mainly because several key players, including Tom Hanks, were involved in both. The actors all had to go to a special boot camp, and the drill instructor received cameos in both. Both attempt to portray war as it is and soldiers as normal men trying to deal with it. I can say with full confidence that what you like or dislike in one you will likewise find in the other. The acting is superb, in no small part due to the special training the actors had to go through before they made the movie. They act, talk and move just like a real soldier would. The special effects are breathtaking, and the one of 1LT Winter parachuting out of his aircraft on 6 June can be considered the signature scene of the whole series. Because the ten episodes cover approximately 3 years, we only get to know a few characters well, but they will be people you will not soon forget. Winter comes across as being almost too perfect, but the others have both good and bad traits that make it easy to sympathize with. When one is killed or greviously wounded, we feel a real loss. Not the sudden shock that its over with that we normally experience in a movie, but the heartfelt sadness that comes from knowing that this person will no longer be with us. The greatest strength of the movie comes from showing GIs doing both heroic and dastardly deeds. In the heat of combat, it doesn't matter if the guy next to you is a saint or a sinner. What does matter is that he won't let you down. It shows the heroism of the US soldier without fanfair and portrays his atrocities without apologies. They had a mission to do and they did it. The greatest weakness to me was the same weakness I find in Steven Ambrose's other work. He is NOT a historian, but rather story teller of historic events. The views and opinions of the soldier is more important to him than the context in which it happened. Don't get me wrong, I feel the opinions of a soldier are important, but, being a soldier myself, I also know how he can exaggerate things. As I mentioned before, I believe that Winter's character was just a little too rightous to be completely believable. There should be outside facts to add balance. Interviews with German survivors, for example, would have been nice. I believe the ideal situation is to listen to the soldiers with your ears but look at the battlemaps with your eyes. Probably the biggest error that came into the series was propogating the myth that Easy Company was the first unit to reach the fabled Eagle's Nest. In truth, they were beat by about a day, but the other unit was told to vacate immediately upon arrival. With that being said, if you don't care about minor historical inaccuracies, but you do want to know what combat is like, you will be hard pressed to find a better way short of actually being shot at. John Holland-author of The Necklace of TerrersylvanousRead full review
I bought a copy of the HBO Band OF Brothers for a friend of mine. It was so great I decided to get my own. Band of Brothers is 10 hours of my WW II Heroes. I've watched it 10 times and I'm on my 11th. It is a great movie showing and telling what it was really like for our men in WW II. I recommend reading the book by Stephen Ambrose "Band of Brothers" first. Anybody considering buying this great DVD or VHF package can't go wrong. This one also has a 80 minute documentary with it. It's realistic, factual, and you'll love the eyewitness personnal accounts.
Great series
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Awesome.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Very educational series of the war from the soldiers perspective. There are so many interesting aspects of the series. You get involved in the personal lives of the soldiers as well as get a glimpse into the actual conditions and hardships that our soldiers experienced while fighting for their country. I was afraid that it would be blood and guts like alot of the other war movies and such but this one focuses alot on the personal stories of the soldiers and their brotherly love for each other.
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