Saving Private Ryan blew me away when I saw it in the theater. All told, I saw it three times on the big screen, which for me is a lot. The opening scene at Omaha Beach never failed to leave me with my mouth hanging open. Only through repeated watchings on DVD was I able to overcome the awe that overtook me when I saw it.
In 2002, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielburg got together and produced Band of Brothers, which aired on HBO. At the time, I didn’t have HBO, so I never saw it. It eventually came out on DVD, but by that point it had faded from my memory.
A few weeks ago, Morgan suggested we rent the first DVD, as she had seen it and really enjoyed it. So we did, and sat down to watch the first two episodes.
Wow.
Band of Brothers traces E “Easy” Company / 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne division. If you don’t know military organization, that will mean nothing to you, but basically we’re talking about 150 men out of a few thousand. It begins with their training at Camp Taccoa all the way to the capture of Hitler’s personal retreat, the “Eagle’s Nest.”
It is also a tale of men who were given some of the most difficult assignments in World War II, told from the perspectives of the men themselves. Unlike Ryan, everything presented in Brothers actually happened. The series was taken from the book by the same name, authored by Stephen Ambrose, a noted World War II historian.
I haven’t even finished the series yet, but I know this will become part of my collection at this point, the hundred dollar price tag be damned. It’s powerfully moving, wonderfully multi-dimensional (one of the episodes is told from the point-of-view of a medic) and the fact that these are real men accomplishing some of these things is just mind-blowing.
Even more amazing is the look to the series. Like Ryan, it is filmed with subdued colors and tones. Green and grey are the primary colors here, but neither one is ever presented in bold, full color. Everything is washed out and drab, giving the films a sense of history, as if you’re watching movies made from the era. It’s a nice effect without being too distracting from the story.
Although the entire series is ten episodes (which means it will take ten hours to view it all), I highly reccomend it. It only takes an hour to sit down and watch an episode, and each story is contained enough that it can be enjoyed with time between viewings (although watching them out of order is not reccomended). Both Hanks and Spielburg did an incredible job putting this series together, which treats war as the horror it is, while at the same time treating the men who fought it with respect and honor. Expect no punches to be pulled, but also be reassured that there is no sensalization either.
Most of all though, expect to walk away knowing men fought for their country against the greatest military foe ever seen, and triumphed despite their own shortcomings.
