From this day to the ending of the world, we in it shall be remembered — We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother
In a single word “Band of Brothers” is just mindblowing. Apart from having a really good title that you only understand the meaning of in the last episode, an excellent cast with some real big names like David Schwimmer(“PIVOT-PIVOT”), Tom Hardy(Venom), James McAvoy(Prof. X), Mike Fassbender(Magneto), Simon Pegg, and produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, BOB has many qualities that are I have never seen in any military/war show ever before.
Released in 2001 on HBO and set in the dreaded time at the peak of WW2 and told over 10 gut-wrenching episodes the story of BOB centers on a company of soldiers in the 101st American Airborne Division from their initial basic training to their landing on D-Day to their many battles and ordeals through to the liberation of a concentration camp and finally through to the end of the war at Hitler’s Eagle’s nest villa in Austria.
The first few episodes center around their training in the military where they were just strangers going to a war that had nothing to do with them, many of them never to come back.
Further Episodes show the invasion of Europe on D-Day in the most realistic way possible. The Special effects are amazing even by today’s standards, the sound editing is so good they won an EMMY for it including 6 others. The show does an amazing job of depicting the harsh and sometimes inhumane conditions that they had to endure from artillery fire directly to the foot, shellshock, and even gangrene. There also are interviews of some of the surviving soldiers explaining their state of mind during such situations at the start of each episode. On top of all this, the show also deals with the mental consequences of war on sane men and women many of them never recovering from it.
The most gut-punching and emotional part of the series and probably the only scene I have teared up watching in a long time is in episode 9 where the band liberates a Concentration Camp where “The Undesirables” are been kept as cattle by the Nazis. The direction of the scene and the background music just add to the emotions. The depiction and set design of the Camp are very realistic and many real survivors were interviewed during productions. I don’t believe any viewer can go through it without tearing up. I won’t spoil the ending of the show as it is an experience in itself but here is a clip from the episode to get the flow going.
In a nutshell, Even after being just a story of American soldiers winning a war, BOB brings out the greater truth about the soldier’s sacrifice whether American or of any other country, and all of us must integrate the reality that we live as the beneficiaries at the expense of their lives. In BOB we don’t see hot-shot Cigar-smoking generals making plans to take down Hitler in big war-rooms but average and fearful men who were thrown into an incomprehensible maelstrom of war and savagery and their emergence as true heroes.
BOB is not for the fainthearted and presents a very graphic(18+) portrayal of war and the hand of death in these events where soldiers live like savages and just cuss all day to drown their pains.
Band of Brothers is a 10 hr experience that makes you feel like you’re in the midst of it all and is a must-watch for everyone regardless of their country or ethnicity.
It will always remain as that one unforgettable experience in the hearts of everyone who watches it including me and if you want to ride that high further read the book on which the series is based.
“We know how to win wars. We must learn now to win peace…”
Penned by Shoray Singhal