Memorial Day Movie Marathon - Part IV

(Author's Note: This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but I decided to forgo blogging in lieu of sleep, since my work weekend from hell was finally over. I'm not remorseful in the least about this decision)

It's late now on Monday. I haven't slept more than two hours at a time all weekend. I'm tired, dirty, probably cranky, definitely in need of social interaction, and if I never saw a computer again for the rest of my life, it would be too soon.

I've watched the sun rise two days in a row. My cat is more confused than I've ever seen him. He usually takes his cues from me whether to sleep or eat, but since I've barely slept and haven't remembered to eat much, he just seems out of sorts. I've managed to lose all concept of time, as evidenced by the fact that I walked outside into the bright sunshine today and was completely surprised that it was still cold... until I realized it was only 7 in the morning.

But enough about me. I'm finally posting the review of Band of Brothers which, fittingly, culminated for me on Memorial Day.

Band of Brothers
This is it. I've finished watching all 10 episodes, the documentary, the video diary... about 13 hours of WWII in all. And after it was all said and done, I can't say enough good things about this series. Nothing I can say here will do justice to it. But I'm going to try anyway.

Start by considering the facts: I watched more than a half day of footage and wanted more. I got choked up probably a half dozen times over the last 2 episodes and have no problem admitting it. You end up feeling the entire range of emotion that the soldiers themselves felt. And after 13 hours, it's over way too fast.

There weren't a lot of big name actors in this series, save for Ron Livingston (aka Peter from Office Space) and Donnie Wahlberg (aka Donnie from The New Kids on the Block). With the rest of the cast, you find yourself either not recognizing them, or saying things like "Hey that's the guy from the IBM commercial" or "I know him from.... from... somewhere." David Schwimmer has a role in the first episode and appears twice in the remaining nine. Jimmy Fallon has a tiny cameo role that he, surprisingly, doesn't screw up-- which is about the best you can say about his acting ability.

The entire series is based on the book by Stephen Ambrose (which I now have to read), but each episode was written and directed by different people. So although they all seamlessly tie together, they also all feel unique in their own way. Tom Hanks and Steven Speilberg take producing credits on the movie (Hanks directed one episode, and Hanks' kid even plays a small role in another), so the effects were so lifelike you start ducking out of the way of mortar shells on your couch. Makes me wish I had surround sound in my apartment, although I'm sure my neighbors are glad I don't, since a lot of this was playing at odd hours of the morning.

It follows the men of the 101st Airborne, Easy Company, as they make their way through Europe. It starts with them at boot camp, but moves quickly into the D-Day invasion of Normandy and onto several other major battles in which Easy Company fought. It's easy to forget that these are all true stories involving real people, but as a reminder, each episode begins with documentary interview footage of the surviving men, now in their 80's, as a way of humanizing the carnage. It's an effective way of reminding you that this isn't just another piece of Hollywood garbage. This happened. This was real.

I'd like to get into it more in this review, but like I said earlier, I just wouldn't do it justice. It's moving. It's powerful. It's epic. And if you don't go out and see it right now, we're not friends anymore.
Final score: 10 out of 10.

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