I watch a lot of TV shows; 113 days worth of it, according to Trakt.tv. But I’ve never told you about Band of Brothers before. Let’s fix that today!
Band of Brothers is a 10-episode mini-series that was released on HBO back in 2001. 15 years after its release, it’s still the number 1 rated TV show on IMDb. I find myself watching it again every couple of years, and it’s still one of my favourite TV series of all time. In my opinion, no other movie / series grasps the varied experiences of war soldiers that well.
It was an expensive series at the time, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. They put that money to good use. Yes, there are a lot of explosions. Yes, battle scenes are epic. Even today, you won’t find a better, more realistic take on combats and the horrors of World War II. But that’s not all. There are no cliches, no side stories. The only focus is the war, and its impact on all of us.
We travel from Camp Toccoa, Georgia to England, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Austria with the men of Easy Company, a unit of paratroopers in 101st Airborne division. We get to know them, feel their struggle, and discover the different ways the war changes them. We also watch them die. Each episode focusses on a different person, and highlights a different aspect of the war. The series doesn’t just show you heroes, and cliche warriors as you’d see in other movies; we get to know real people and some of the survivors even get to share their little anecdotes with us at the beginning of each episode.
A lot of actors went out to become famous in other series years later. Damian Lewis became more famous in Homeland; 2 replacements, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, are now well known for their roles as Magneto and Charles Xavier in X-Men; Tom Hardy was recently seen in Mad Max; you can even spot Jimmy Fallon if you pay attention!
All those actors are part of what makes Band of Brothers a must-see. If you haven’t watched the series yet, do! I can guarantee you’ll enjoy it!
