Band of Brothers (2001)

Band of Brothers

• Truly one of the most emotional, gut wrenching, and eye opening shows I’ve ever seen. Tom Hank and Steven Spielberg absolutely delivered when helping make this, and they possibly made the best WWII adaptation ever put on screen. I’m truly blown away by how good this was, and I enjoyed almost every second of it. Despite only having 10 episodes, it doesn’t need any more than that to perfectly put the picture of war in your head. Of all the war movies and shows I’ve seen, this one does the best job of making you feel like you were really there. The color grading was very dull, and the prominent colors in this show are brown, gray, and green. It gives you the feel that you’re watching old film, which makes it feel really authentic. The uniforms and setting make it feel even more real, as though all of this is straight out of a WWII textbook. All the battle scenes were extremely well shot and put together, and it has some of the best use of shaky cam that you’ll ever see. This show doesn’t stray away from the violence that occurred, and it makes sure you know how bloody and tragic the war was. The emotion from each soldier in the battles really pushes the feelings that they had to go through. It really makes you appreciate the sacrifices that the real soldiers took. I really liked how almost every episode was centered around either a single man or a certain group of soldiers. You can learn all about each character throughout the show, as well as almost walking in their shoes. The story was great, and I loved how it centers around a specific company of the army, not just a bunch of random soldiers. The first episode focuses on the actual training of the soldiers at a boot camp, which you don’t always see in a war movie/show. It was cool to see the process of the training and preparation for war. Watching Easy Company’s progress and travels was intriguing and cool, especially at Bastogne. The 9th episode of the series was perhaps the best one, and to me, it’s one of the best TV episodes ever made. It’s also one of the most emotional TV episodes I’ve ever seen. You get to see the horrors of the concentration camps, as well as the evils of the Nazi’s, and the war itself. It was extremely gut wrenching and you are not prepared at all for what you see. It’s hard to sit through, but I think it’s an episode that everyone should watch at some point in their life. The music in this series is really good, and though not always present, when it is, it has the classic patriotic/war theme to it. The last thing I’ll say, and the most important, is the interviews with the real soldiers that this show is based on. Almost all the beginnings of each episode has a little snippet of the soldiers talking about their experiences, and it was a really touching and nice addition to the show. At the end of the finale, the real soldiers are introduced, and they give their final message to the viewer. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up, because it really hits you hard. Overall, this is arguably the greatest piece of media ever made about WWII, and I’d highly recommend it. Even if you don’t like war, you should still at least watch episode nine at some point. This show is officially Berry Approved, so go check it out now!