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I'm watching Band of Brothers again (what a work of art).

31 replies

MinecraftMother · 01/11/2020 21:21

Rewatching this after first seeing it years ago. We bought the box set and everything.

Absolutely wonderful series, although of course horrific.

I forgot just how many big names are in this, every episode is like "oh looks there's whatsisname...." inc the Hot Priest from Fleabag, Tom
Hardy, Michael Fassbender...

The one episode I vividly remember is called Why We Fight. For a while, whenever I'd catch it on the telly, it would be this episode over and over. Apparently very true to form and utterly heart breaking.

These poor men.

OP posts:
Funnyface1 · 11/11/2020 17:46

I've borrowed the box set from my parents, starting it tonight.

I've never seen it before, always shied away from war things, I find it very upsetting as I'm sure most people do. So we'll see if I can get through it.

iklboogeymum · 11/11/2020 17:49

Loved it - DH & I 'courted' to it. He used to come down on a Friday night for the weekend and we'd have a couple of drinks watching it. It's beautifully, beautifully done.

RealLifeHotWaterBottle · 11/11/2020 17:52

I loved it, you've got me looking for it now. It was so beautifully written and shot. The scene with Speirs at Foy stayed with me ever since

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Susanwouldntlikeit · 11/11/2020 17:57

Oooh have never seen it -just googled the cast -wow! Would watch it just fir Andrew Scott....Grin

RusholmeRuffian · 11/11/2020 17:58

I have binge watched this at least once a year since it came out. It's one of the best TV series ever made IMO. So many good actors and so many memorable scenes. Looking forward to Hanks & Spielberg's next collaboration which is going to be about the Mighty 8th Airforce.

MinecraftMother · 11/11/2020 18:01

Well we finished it last night and again with the tears. A young Tom Hardy... wow!

What I said to DH is that these men went back to normal like afterwards and were postmen ana contractors. Looking at what they did in war, they should be on pedestals and never work again but have thousands of pounds a week given to them.

What they saw. What they did. It's just like a fiction but of course it wasn't.

It made me wish I spent more
Time in my mother's nursing home for elderly people in the 90's getting their stories from them.

Why We Fight, the penultimate episode, breaks my heart. It breaks my heart.

OP posts:
currahee · 11/11/2020 18:16

-polishes username-

It's nearly 20 years old and still stands up to an annual re-watch, it's so perfectly, beautifully and respectfully done and has an amazing cast.

iklboogeymum · 11/11/2020 23:05

Loved the inter cuts with the real soldiers

DramaAlpaca · 11/11/2020 23:07

I watched it recently for the first time, I thought it was amazing.

MinecraftMother · 11/11/2020 23:09

Every 5 seconds we're like "oh isn't that such and such from youknowwhat?"

You are so right it is completely standing the test of time.

I think it should be on the curriculum. Maybe not all
Of it, like Tom Harry's romp with a comely fraulein... 😆

OP posts:
RosieLemonade · 12/11/2020 05:39

We watch it every year too. Absolutely love it. And like PP said it feels so strange that these men did all these awe inspiring things and then went back to normal jobs.

vickibee · 12/11/2020 05:43

My dh watches over and over again,, he says it is a masterpiece. It looks a bit too gritty for me though

Nospringchickendipper · 12/11/2020 05:43

Great series.Loved the music it used to bring me out in goosebumps.

LockdownLove · 12/11/2020 05:48

We live close to where this was filmed. They returned to film in the same woods where the men fought. You can still walk around and see the fox holes :(

Tom Hanks also paid for a memorial to the men and it is on a quiet country name but with his name on the back out of sight. As he did not want to distract form the men.

5 of them are bruised in our local American war cemetery and we visited their graves. Some died so close for the end of the war :(

ChocBeforeCock · 12/11/2020 06:07

This reminds me, I started to watch this with an ex-boyfriend years ago, but we broke up shortly afterwards and I never finished it. Time to change that!

Boscoforever · 12/11/2020 06:09

I have read many of the book that came from this series.
A Company of Heroes describes all the lesser known men in the book. A small biography on each man before the war, his time during the war and then his life after the war.
It is so interesting. Some became alcoholics and couldn’t cope, but most did indeed go in to lead normal lives. I those days you didn’t talk about things. Their families had no idea.
David Kanyon Webster’s book (Webster, the budding journalist in BoB) wrote s book too Parachute Infantry, and it is really good. First few chapters really make you feel you are there on D Day. The tension!

RosieLemonade · 12/11/2020 07:44

Didn’t Webster disappear at sea?

chomalungma · 12/11/2020 08:06

The book is very good. There is 1 bit when a Sergeant who was at D Day and in Holland rejoins the unit after being shot in Holland. He rejoins a few months later and the overwhelming members his unit have changed and don't know much about him.

The portrayal of Captain Sobel played by David Schwimmer (Ross from Friends) is interesting in the book.

It's also interesting how the episodes often focus on just 1 character. The medic at Bastogne is just 1 example.

MinecraftMother · 12/11/2020 17:47

Did I read that Webster wrote a book about sharks and went missing at sea?

One of our buddies supplies tanks to films (working tanks and old landies etc) and he got to be an extra. There's a shot of him reclining on the bonnet of an army jeep towards the end of the war. So cool!

I now want to read the book. I'm becoming a little obsessed!

To the poster who said it looks too gritty, it is, but there are some wonderful moment of levity. It is, I imagine, quite true to life. Not all horror.

It is a wonderful masterpiece and we should all watch it every November, every year.

OP posts:
Funnyface1 · 12/11/2020 18:45

Well I watched part 1 and half of part 2 with DH last night. He's seen it before. It was as good as everyone says and as heartbreaking as I thought and I don't think I've seen how bad it gets yet.

I'm carrying on tonight, I'm hooked. I have a feeling I'll be googling to find things out afterwards.

NoWordForFluffy · 12/11/2020 19:03

We love BoB. We watch on Blu Ray with surround sound and it's just an epic work of art (it does sound like you're being shot at from behind, if you have speakers there, though!).

NoWordForFluffy · 12/11/2020 19:04

@Funnyface1, it gets much worse. I won't spoiler. 😢

Shinygoldbauble · 12/11/2020 19:05

It's really excellent. I bought the DVD set for DH years ago and we watched it several times.

Boscoforever · 12/11/2020 19:15

Yes, Webster did go to sea and his kayak was found drifting. I don't think he was very popular with the other men. It's also Webster that returns after being injured in Holland. He wasn't a sergeant though.
Webster's book.
Most of the men wrote books due to demand after the series. I have read most of them. The love they had for each other is touching.

BackInSeptember · 12/11/2020 19:24

My Grandfather served in WW2 through France, Belgium, Holland and finally Germany. I’ve recently been tracing his war history and for the first time watched BoB, Saving Private Ryan, A Bridge Too Far and a few others.
It’s unbelievable what they went through and how much they suffered.

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