Band Of Brothers - Complete HBO Series Commemorative Gift Set (6 Disc Box Set) [2001] [DVD]

"From this day to the ending of the world, we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."

From Academy Award winners Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, HBO presents the story of Easy Company - an elite team of U.S. paratroopers whose WWII exploits are as incredible as they are true.

Based on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose, the epic 10-part miniseries Band Of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army.

Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, Band Of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They were an elite rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered vast casualties, and whose lives became legend.

They were ordinary men, swept up in the most extraordinary conflict in history. With the eyes of the world upon them, they found their greatest source of strength in one another.

Episodes Comprise:

1. Currahee
2. Day Of Days
3. Carentan
4. Replacements
5. Crossroads
6. Bastogne
7. The Breaking Point
8. The Last Patrol
9. Why We Fight
10. Points

 

• Actors

Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Ron Livingston, Matthew Settle, Dale Dye, Scott Grimes, Neal McDonough, Kirk Acevedo, Dexter Fletcher, David Schwimmer, Colin Hanks, Simon Pegg & Marc Warren

• Certificate

15 years and over

• Year

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A genuinely epic achievement, the 10-part World War II drama Band of Brothers is a television series that makes big-screen Hollywood war movies look small in comparison. Based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose, the series follows the US 101st Airborne Division's "Easy" E-Company from initial training through D-Day and across Holland, Belgium, Germany and Austria until the end of the war. Coproduced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, the series take its initial inspiration from Saving Private Ryan and borrows that film's visceral visual approach to combat scenes using hand-held camerawork and de-saturated photography. But where Band of Brothers excels is in its scrupulous attention to the realities of military life (retired US Marine Captain Dale Dye, who also co-stars, is the man to credit).

After the high drama of the parachute drop on D-Day, Easy's greatest trial comes during the Battle of the Bulge, when they are besieged at Bastogne in the depths of winter. In one of the most harrowing and credible depictions of war ever committed to film we see the men enduring the repeated artillery attacks of the German forces and experience, if only vicariously, some of the sheer terror of the assault, while being humbled by the soldiers' courage and determination. Such feelings are enhanced by the series' masterstroke--bookend interviews with the surviving members of Easy Company, who talk with barely suppressed emotion of the experiences we see recreated. The endorsement of these veterans elevates Band of Brothers beyond any mere "war film"--its extraordinary achievement is that it shows the horror and savagery of war without gloss or jingoism, and yet celebrates the fraternal bonds and dogged heroism of the men who fought.

On the DVD: Band of Brothers arrives handsomely packaged in a six-disc box set with two episodes on each of the first five discs. Sound (Dolby 5.1) and picture (1.78:1 widescreen) only enhance the series' epic credentials. Disc 6 contains all the extras, the meatiest of which is the marvellous 80-minute documentary "We Stand Alone Together" about the real men of Easy Company. There's also a first-rate, genuinely interesting 30-minute "making of" feature about actor boot camp, visual effects and blowing up fake trees among many other things. This is complemented by actor Ron Livingston's revealing Video Diaries of boot camp. Additionally there's a "Who's Who" section and footage of the HBO premiere at Utah Beach, plus a TV spot for car company Jeep. --Mark Walker