Band of Brothers: Real American Heroes

Band of Brothers is about this really tight group of soldiers during World War II. Kind of like G.I. Joe, without the black people, as segregation in the army was still in back then.

But unlike G.I. Joe, the men of Easy Company are NOT real American heroes. Don't believe me? See for yourself.

Maj. Richard D. Winters

Damian Lewis (English)

Band of Brothers. Part 9: Why We Fight

And as the paratroopers' song goes: ♪ Glory, glory, what a helluva way to die / He ain't gonna jump no more ♫ And basically, Easy Company gets to jump no more. Except for Captain Nixon, who gets to make one last jump with the 17th Airborne. While getting divorced from his wife. While running out of whiskey. All this from a man who never fired his weapon in combat. Ever. And what is the reason why they fight? One word: Jews.

Band of Brothers. Part 7: The Breaking Point

This one now is about 1st Sgt. Carwood Lipton. It's amazing how Donnie Wahlberg can play a really nice guy. I don't know if he's a really nice guy in real life, though. Maybe. Who knows. I also realized that maybe sharing foxholes is the bonding activity that kept the men of Easy so unusually close.

*pic from photobucket.com

Band of Brothers. Part 6: Bastogne

Since this show tries to do a different point of view for every episode, this one focuses on Easy Company's medic, the half-Cajun Eugene "Doc" Roe. They even tried putting a romantic angle on it. Good thing they didn't pursue it. But the last shot was my absolute favorite.

*pic from photobucket.com

Band of Brothers. Part 5: Crossroads

This episode was directed by Tom Hanks. Okay, so Tom Hanks can direct. A little. I mean, how hard is it, if Mel Gibson can win a Best Director Oscar for Braveheart? But somehow, this episode tries too hard to be fancy, when straight-up storytelling will do just fine.

*pic from hbo.com

Band of Brothers. Part 4: Replacements

As the title suggests, this is about replacements. Easy Company is not that keen on letting rookies fight side by side with the veterans, so that in itself creates a great conflict. Plus, this episode is about the (in)famous Operation: Market-Garden (oh how I love the sound of the names of covert military operations). This was one of the more notorious failed Allied operations. And you'll see here why it failed.

P.S. James McAvoy is here. Yes, THE James McAvoy.


*pic from livejournal.com

Band of Brothers. Part 3: Carentan

Since this is a ten-part series, you can't pull off those ten episodes without focusing on certain characters. Well technically you can, if you have a strong plot. And we all know what the plot for Band of Brothers is--World War II, European front. Ho hum. So we really need to focus on certain characters. "Carentan" focuses on Pvt. Albert Blithe, who isn't even a minor character in the book, but gets special mention here. That's because Blithe embodies all the cowards of war.


*pic from nj.com

Band of Brothers. Part 1: Currahee

This is the very first episode. Of course there's no action yet. This is just jump school. And even if I still can't dissociate David Schwimmer from the TV show Friends, he does a fine good job here as that despicable officer who actually made Easy Company.


*pic from rapid.org

Band of Brothers. Part 2: Day of Days

If you love action, you'll love this. If you love the European front of the Second World War, you'll love this. It's action, plus action, plus action. Guns. Guns. Guns. Parachutes. Parachutes. Parachutes. Germans. Germans. Germans. And for the longest time, I believed that the "D" in D-Day stood for "Dooms", you know, like "Doomsday". But this is actually Operation Overlord, a.k.a. The Day of Days. Let's go American megalomania!


*pic from bor3ds0ul.blogspot.com

Band of Brothers. Part 8: The Last Patrol

Because Private First Class David Kenyon Webster contributed significantly to the historical accuracy of the series, he was made the central character for this entire episode. What a break for actor Eion Bailey. And his acting wasn't bad, by the way. Tom Hanks's son also stars here, as newbie Lt. Jones, who graduated on D-Day. He's also got some acting chops (possibly genetic, considering that his old man is a back-to-back Oscar Best Actor), acting as green as his fresh ODs.


*pic from marymary.livejournal.com

Band of Brothers

This book will not have the same effect on everyone. This is only for those who really love to read about World War II.

"Band of Brothers" is an exacting work, a fairly accurate piece of military history. It chronicles the journey of Easy Company, from their jump training in Toccoa in 1942, to their actual jump on D-Day, and all the way to Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

Ambrose writes with the serious tone of historical text, but it is the narrative that will hold you spellbound, as he chronicles Easy Company's European campaign in great detail. Ambrose also makes sure that each of the men are fleshed out, giving us a virtual tour of the time and setting of each and every battle Easy fought in.

Again, not everyone will love this book. It's just that I'm a sucker for World War II, especially the European front.

Rating: Five stars.