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6 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
BAND OF BROTHERS (Various, 2001; TV) ***, 15 March 2007

Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

This is the only recent TV series that I've watched apart from ROME (2005) and, though similarly proficient and pain-staking, it doesn't really say anything that couldn't be just as effectively presented in a standard feature film; actually, the series was inspired by the success of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998) - and, in fact, the star and director of that award-winning epic (Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg respectively) serve as Executive Producers here, and Hanks even directed one of the episodes himself (albeit amounting to possibly the least interesting of all!).

Based on the real-life WWII exploits of the so-called Easy Company - with most episodes introduced by the reminiscences of surviving members a' la REDS (1981) - the rambling script has several of the soldiers take turns narrating their participation in key events during the war (D-Day, Arnhem, Bastogne, VE-Day , etc.) in the style of THE THIN RED LINE (1998): this means that the film basically alternates between a celebration of camaraderie and a gruesome display of carnage, while at the same time showcasing an adequate young cast. While the depiction of the front-line is certainly among the most harrowing and realistic ever put on film, the narrative is hampered by having so many anonymous characters that one has trouble distinguishing them from one another.

Quality varies from one episode to the other but I found the latter stages to be the best, with the sections devoted to the Battle of the Bulge, the discovery of concentration camps in Germany and the needless extended stay in Europe after the capitulation of the Nazis emerging as the most compelling - and moving.

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