"Band of Brothers" is Still a Stunner

One of the biggest blindspots in my viewing history has been the beloved HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," created in 2001 to dramatize the experiences of an American paratrooper company, nicknamed "Easy Company," during WWII. Shepherded by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg in the wake of their success with "Saving Private Ryan," the miniseries was event television on a scale that had never been seen before. HBO spent over $12 million on each of the ten episodes, and won praise for the production's unusual historical accuracy and epic scope.

The series has become a benchmark of sorts for WWII media since, and greatly beloved by an ardent group of fans. It's not hard to see why. "Band of Brothers" is centered firmly on the experiences of its heroic soldiers, every step of the way from training in England under a much-hated commander, Captain Sobel (David Schwimmer), to the final days in Austria after the declaration of victory. We watch them land at Normandy, participate in the doomed Operation Market Garden, struggle through the Battle of the Bulge, enter Germany, and finally make their way to Hitler's Eagle's Nest compound in Berchtesgaden. It's ten very eventful hours of painstakingly recreated wartime conditions and clashes, largely based on first person accounts by the surviving veterans who actually participated in the depicted events.

One aspect of the show that sets it apart from other WWII media is that it features such a large ensemble, and resists elevating any of them to outsized, mythological status. The closest thing "Band of Brothers" has to a central character is Major Richard Winters (Damian Lewis), but there are only two episodes told from his POV. Other installments follow regular enlisted soldiers like Staff Sergeant Buck Randleman (Michael Cudlitz), Private Webster (Eion Bailey), Private Blithe (Marc Warren), and a medic, Doc Roe (Shane Taylor). Other prominent characters include First Lieutenant "Buck" Compton (Neal McDonough), Captain Nixon (Ron Livingston), Technical Sergeant Malarkey (Scott Grimes), Second Lieutenant Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) and Technician Perconte (James Madio). In hindsight, the biggest names in the cast are those in minor parts who hadn't gotten their big breaks yet - it's fun spotting then unknowns Tom Hardy, James McAvoy, Simon Pegg, and Michael Fassbender.

The constantly shifting POV and focus on different characters keeps "Band of Brothers" a chronicle of Easy Company rather than its individual soldiers. The ten hour length, covering their advancement through six different countries, provides plenty of time and opportunity to see smaller stories play out, and to get a better sense of the impact of experiences on the men over several years. It can afford to go in depth on very specific events, while retaining a macroscopic view of the entire war. I appreciate that the series spends so much time on institutional and systemic problems like leadership gaps, supply shortages, mental health issues, and what happens when soldiers suddenly find themselves with too much free time. The featured American paratroopers use rough language, tell off-color jokes, and occasionally partake in morally gray behavior, though their depiction is largely positive. A nice touch is that each episode opens with interview footage of some of the real soldiers from Easy Company offering snippets of their reminiscences.

Of course, realism takes a back seat to entertainment, and "Band of Brothers" is one of the most successful war spectacles I've ever seen. Nearly every episode features huge action setpieces, some with enough explosions to rival Hollywood blockbusters. HBO was prescient enough to shoot the entire series in widescreen, and clearly no expense was spared in the production, so it still looks fantastic two decades later. "Band of Brothers" also pulls off the more sobering moments, notably Easy Company's long winter in Bastogne, and the horrific discovery of a concentration camp late in the series.

I'm glad that I finally had the time to watch "Band of Brothers." It's hardly aged a day, unlike "The West Wing," which was airing at roughly the same time, and feels more relevant than ever. And it also remains about the best argument I can find for long form television having surpassed films as the most powerful storytelling medium of the past two decades.
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