Band of Brothers

This book has been criticized by some WWII afficionados for focusing on an elite group. As I see it, the book was timed perfectly for the first wave of WWII recognition in the 90s--the 50th anniversary of the War. It gave faces to the soldiers, and while they were not the dogfaces slogging it out in the foxholes across Europe or island-hopping across the Pacific, they were riflemen who saw serious combat. It is an honest book based on a lot of primary sources including extensive interviews.

It's fairly well written and follows the group from training until they were disbanded at the end of the war. It follows up with brief descriptions of the survivors PostWar stories (where available). One of the advantages of following such a group as this is that they were among the strongest and most fit of their generation, so in general, their survival rate is pretty good. Dick Winters only died last January (1/2/11). There's not a lot of fancy writing...no poetic descriptions. It's a practical book, relaying information about the men and what happened to them. As with much of history, the survivors get to shape the story. However, Ambrose did a good job of covering all the bases and tried hard to be objective. If you are at all interested in the European Theatre of Operations of WW II and have not read the book, you should. If you have seen the TV series, you should read the book as there is a lot more detail.

As for the series--Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks made it after Saving Private Ryan, again during the peak of the 'Greatest Generation' fanfare. Hanks and Spielberg are of my generation. Most of the boys growing up in the 50s played WWII games. The early 60s marked the 20th anniversary of the War and this greatly influenced the children, especially boys, of this generation. This was a childhood fantasy realized (okay--that's a little simplistic, but I can see where this actor and producer were coming from). A chance to do a really good, bang up job of showing the war, 'The Good War', the one where the US was on the side of the angels and we won.

They did a TV miniseries (on HBO so they could be accurate as to violence, language, and sex) so it could show the entire scope in great detail. They re-interviewed the surviving members of the unit multiple times ('How did you feel when this happened? Did you smile?') to get real accuracy. They (producers) spared no expense having replicas made of everything, sometimes using the original molds or Army specs. The costumes, equipment and events were as perfectly true to the real ones as they could possibly be.

As for the acting/casting. They got young actors who resembled the real men as closely as possible. They underwent a grueling boot camp to learn to act like young soldiers instinctively. It paid off, the show/movie was incredibly realistic.
Differences between the book and the movie? Well, they had pinpoint accuracy on equipment and settings and, for the most part, historical events. They did not show the stories of the people with 100% accuracy. For example, the show implied that Blithe died in 1948. He actually survived until 1967. Eugene, the medic, did not find Renee's scarf. The book never mentions any direct interaction between Debs and the nurses, although the nurses were there and Renee was killed in the Christmas bombing of Bastogne.

However, this is not actually a criticism. They had to focus on individual characters and tell a 75 minute 'story' with each episode in a way that the book didn't. They did a good job making the show watchable and compelling while being true to the overall truth.

I have to say that reading the book made watching the show easier--it is difficult to tell the men apart for a while. They all dress alike, they all are white and young. I've watched the series 3 times, and I'm only just getting so I know who everyone is in all the scenes.

Anyway, this is one of the bestest war 'movies' ever made. The book was an excellent source of detailed description(s) of the lives of these young men who were went through excruciating experiences that we can never really understand.... les