Band of Brothers
B OX S E T
There have been many notable films depicting the events of the Second World War. The Bridge on the River Kwai and Schindler’s List spring readily to mind and, more recently, Letters from Iwo Jima and Dunkirk.
There have also been some hugely impressive TV series, and none more so than Band of Brothers. It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly 20 years since this acclaimed wartime drama first hit our screens.
Tom Hanks’ and Steven Spielberg’s 10-part mini series, based on historian Stephen E Ambrose’s 1992 non-fiction book of the same name, follows the exploits of US 101st Airborne troops from their time in Normandy up until the end of the war.
The realism of the battle sequences is a hallmark of the series as we experience practically every emotion the soldiers go through.
It is a visceral and unflinching portrait of conflict shot through with moments of humour and compassion, and it made a star of Damian Lewis (Captain Winters) among others.
At times the tension is almost suffocating as the viewer is taken on a gruelling and heartbreaking journey through Europe’s battlefields to the war’s denouement.
What is most moving of all, though, are the interviews with some of the surviving members of the 101st Airborne division which begin each episode.
It is they, and their young comrades who never made it home, that are the heroes of this story. We owe them, and all those who fought for freedom, a debt of gratitude that can never be truly repaid.