Band of Brothers Gives a Unique Look at World War 2 with Tom Hanks

Band of Brothers is a unique film about World War 2, taken from the point of view of a group of U.S. soldiers as they become part of the experience that is war.  But unlike the typical war film, which depicts a specific battle, or a sequence of events that takes place during one of the wars, Band of Brothers starts in boot camp, and works its way all the way through the end of the Second World War.  This is done by following Easy Company, a company from the airborne infantry, and they go from young and unsuspecting boys all the way to ragged men that have seen the dark side of the world.  Along the way, the audience is taken through experiences like the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Buldge, and right up to some of the last fighting of the war.  The film is epic in its scope of presentation, and works hard to present a story that is entirely all-encompassing.

One of the main reasons that Band of Brothers ended up working so well, was its definite attention to detail, and insistence on presenting as much realism as possible.  This of course means that there are many violent and brutal moments of the film (as in war), but it also gives directors Tom Hanks and David Frankel the chance to put the audience right in the thick of things.  Several scenes will really stick with the viewer over the course of Band of Brothers, including the feeling of being in an older plane waiting to jump out into nothingness, and the shocking reality of finally coming across a concentration camp in Germany and realizing the horrors first hand.  By putting the audience on the ground, and side-by-side with the members of Easy Company, the film is able to present something quite real and tangible, and cinema that is going to be remembered long after watching it play out.

Equally compelling to the scale of the mini-series, as well as its depiction, is the stellar cast that is used with which to tell the story of Easy Company.  Though there are many actors that stand out along the way in this great ensemble cast, the ones that really make their marks are Ron Livingston, Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, and Neal McDonough.  The cast is also enormous in scale, and it really had to be to portray so many different parts of the war, and to cover so many different aspects of it.  With the help of Tom Hanks behind the camera, and feel that co-executive producer Steven Spielberg was able to give Band of Brothers in its presentation, the entire series becomes both enthralling and intriguing, as the audience sees some things that haven't been shown in war films before.  The Americans aren't always the good guys in this depiction, and there isn't a false feeling that war in anything more than a hell in itself.

Maybe the reason that Band of Brothers works so well, is that it has a basis of fact for which it is based.  Stephen Ambrose wrote the book and was known as one of the preeminent military historians before his death in 2002.  This remarkable work of film that was drawn from his writing is one that easily makes itself remembered, and also set a whole new standard for this type of film-making.  Band of Brothers originally aired on HBO as an extended mini-series, but has been made available on DVD since it was first aired.  The set itself is available on 6 DVD's, which has all 10 parts of the mini-series, as well as many bonuses including behind-the-scenes, and documentary type revelations of the real Easy Company and what they went through on the battlefield.  For those that enjoy films about World War 2, this is a definite must-see, and well worth the purchase price for fans of the genre.  It is a ground-breaking mini-series, and one that really entertains while doing so in an emotional fashion.