Harder to watch than the D-Day sequence of "Saving Private Ryan," because before the shooting starts, we, the viewers, have spent some time getting to know these men as individuals. And the longer film time (10 hours) allows us to stay with a man for a few more seconds after his legs have been blown off. We have the time to take in the horror and the agony.
I have never served in the military, but this seems like the real deal. These 10 hours should be mandatory viewing for every 16-year-old in the country. Volunteering for military service is an honorable choice, but young people should make that choice knowing what they are signing up for.
That being said, Band of Brothers is not all death and destruction. There's a rich mixture of personalities and relationships. We see the mundane details of a soldier's life, including the boredom, the humor, the goofing off, the camaraderie, the improvising of ways to get around regulations.
And we see the enormous toll this experience takes on the psyches--the souls--of these ordinary people who have been dropped into an overwhelming situation.
There's an extraordinary sequence at the end of Part 2 which begins with individual closeups of the paratroopers sitting silently in the plane which is carrying them to their drop point over Normandy. In each of the faces you can read the full range of emotions as they think about what's ahead and what they are leaving behind. Then the camera pulls back and we see the whole planeload of soldiers in their gear, lined up against the two walls of the plane. Then the camera shows us that plane from the outside, flying through the darkness and wisps of clouds. The camera pulls back further and we see the whole squadron of planes flying in formation. The last shot is from above: what seems like hundreds of planes, all flying in the same direction, and below them, hundreds of boats steaming across the English Channel.
What a waste.
I have never served in the military, but this seems like the real deal. These 10 hours should be mandatory viewing for every 16-year-old in the country. Volunteering for military service is an honorable choice, but young people should make that choice knowing what they are signing up for.
That being said, Band of Brothers is not all death and destruction. There's a rich mixture of personalities and relationships. We see the mundane details of a soldier's life, including the boredom, the humor, the goofing off, the camaraderie, the improvising of ways to get around regulations.
And we see the enormous toll this experience takes on the psyches--the souls--of these ordinary people who have been dropped into an overwhelming situation.
There's an extraordinary sequence at the end of Part 2 which begins with individual closeups of the paratroopers sitting silently in the plane which is carrying them to their drop point over Normandy. In each of the faces you can read the full range of emotions as they think about what's ahead and what they are leaving behind. Then the camera pulls back and we see the whole planeload of soldiers in their gear, lined up against the two walls of the plane. Then the camera shows us that plane from the outside, flying through the darkness and wisps of clouds. The camera pulls back further and we see the whole squadron of planes flying in formation. The last shot is from above: what seems like hundreds of planes, all flying in the same direction, and below them, hundreds of boats steaming across the English Channel.
What a waste.
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