The mini series Band of Brothers is thought of as undoubtedly one of the finest warfare motion pictures ever made. Based upon the book by Stephen Ambrose, the ten parts follow the story about the soldiers of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Regiment of the American 101st Airborne. The mini series starts off with their basic training at Toccoa, Georgia just before heading on to the UK as they make ready for a part with the D-Day Invasion in Northern France.
Each episode gets going by talking to veterans of Easy Company. The veterans talk about their war time experience that this episode documents although at this stage, the men are not identified. Despite the fact that the men are not identified, the episodes gets you familiar with the people early and the actors are brilliantly selected so it is very easy to connect with them from the start.
Despite the fact that the action scenes are filmed fantastically, the reason Band of Brothers stand out from plenty of alternative war films is that often it reveals the individual tales so very well. To illustrate, in episode 2 only just before Easy are set to jump into Normandy, amongst the soldiers, Bill Guarnere, learns his brother was killed at Montecassino.
The 10 episodes show the stories of Easy Company beginning with their basic training just before heading into action in Normandy and to the village of Carentan. Episode four sees the roll-out of replacement men into Easy and illustrates the troubles they have being accepted by veterans of Normandy as the men take part in Operation Market Garden.
The next 2 episodes tell the story of the run up and the fighting at Bastogne in the course of the Battle of the Bulge. By this stage some of soldiers are at breaking point and this is actually the topic of episode seven. As the war in Europe nears the end, there is a final patrol for Easy Company. The horrors of war are brought to the forefront when the men come across a concentration camp. The final episode sees Easy relocate to Austria where they capture the Eagle’s Nest high in the mountains at Berchtesgaden.
The series finishes with interviews with the men of Easy Company and finally identifies the men that audiences have learned to know all through the ten episodes of Band of Brothers.