This series was extraordinarily well-done. I had read the book twice well before the series came out, and referred to it again after each episode. I have never seen anything so true to its source. A few compromises had to be made, of course; some incidents that involved company members NOT portrayed in the film were reassigned to other men (understandable, since there's only so many men that can be portrayed.) But I don't believe that there was a single "composite character" in the Easy Company portrayals, and what minor dramatic licenses were taken were almost universally reasonable. The acting was good to superb throughout; even David Schwimmer (one of the least airborne-like people I can imagine) turned in an effective portrayal of Herbert Sobel. The battle sequences were outstanding, in the tradition of (albeit on a smaller budget than) Saving Private Ryan (and without the glaring weak points of that film.) In fact, SPR, BOB, and Blackhawk Down have so raised the bar for portrayal of modern combat on film that any other films, regardless of how well-done, pale in comparison. My favorite of the episodes was Episode 7, "Breaking Point." It had a great main plot-line (the disastrous Lieutenant Dike), some of the best dialog of the whole series (several of the foxhole conversations, plus the discussion between Lipton and Speirs about the latter's reputation), and some of the toughest casualties (Guarnere and Toye.) Episode 5, "Crossroads," is another favorite, even though it's a bit "artsy." Winters' unexpectedly facing down an entire German company on the dike, plus the almost haphazard deployment to Bastogne, stand out (and the best line of the series is Winters' response to the truck driver who tells him they're surrounded.) Episode 6, focusing on medic Eugene Roe during the siege of Bastogne, is another top one. And the dramatization of the death camp in Episode 9, even though this sort of thing has been portrayed innumerable times, had a great deal of emotional power to it. Singling out these installments is not intended as a disservice to the others; they were ALL great! Now that it's out on DVD I will finally be buying a player.
Review of Band of Brothers
