Tom Hanks will probably go down as his generation’s best actor but the one thing he perhaps doesn’t get enough credit for is as a producer. And in that regard he’s brought two of the finest mini-series in television history to the screen: Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Set in World War II, both series follow groups of soldiers as they fight in the war for the Army and Marine Corps respectively.
Band of Brothers, based off the novel “Band of Brothers” by Stephen E. Ambrose, follows E Company (“Easy Company”) of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment assigned to the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army through the Second World War. Starting in boot camp, we follow Easy Company as they land in Normandy and through their capture of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. The series mainly focuses on Major Dick Winters (Damian Lewis) and his best friend Captain Lewis Nixon (Ron Livingston), in charge of Easy Company, but this isn’t the tale of Dick and Lewis. It’s the tale of the company and we follow them throughout the war; men die and get transferred out, and in, along the way. Through them we explore the European theatre of World War II until V.E Day.
The Pacific centers on the experiences of three Marines who were all in different Regiments of the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific theatre of World War II. We follow all three from their departure to Guadalcanal through the end of the Pacific campaign. We specifically follow Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello), Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale) and John Basilone (Jon Seda) through their deployments throughout the Pacific campaign. Much like Band of Brothers we follow them until the end of the war, reaching the zenith at V.J Day.
And together they achieve something monumental; they give us a look into the effects of warfare on the mind and body of the men of World War 2. Every war is different and World War 2 gets immortalized in cinema more often than not because it has the best villains (the Japanese and the Nazis) and more than its share of men who seem to tower over history. While Vietnam films focus more upon the horrors of war, and Persian Gulf films focus on political points more often than not, World War II films have the distinct advantage in that they get to be tales of good and evil for the most part. You couldn’t make a film like Inglourious Basterds about Vietnam, or either of the Persian Gulf conflicts, because they’ve been used more often than not to make singular points about the futility of conflict and the horrors of war more often than not.
WWII still has the ability to be about tales of heroism and the toll war takes on men. These are tales of heroes who fought in the war, slightly dramatized but remaining faithful to the events of history for the most part. Band of Brothers focuses on the physical aspect of it; it’s more about who lives, who dies and who gets wounded and the bonds that get created therein than anything else. It’s about the power of brotherhood to bond men eternally, how the hardships of conflict and the toll on men’s bodies that it takes. We see these men fight, get wounded and deal with the injuries that come with the conflict more often than not; it’s about the physical effects war takes on people and how it bonds them.
The Pacific is its spiritual counterpart, focusing on the mental side of conflict. Whereas Brothers focuses on the effects the war took on the bodies of men. When you see the horrors of conflict it changes you in a way that’s profound, one imagines, and that can’t be explained in words. Following the tale of these three Marines through the Pacific theatre, we see how the war and their experiences change them as people. By the time they finish with the war, or the war finishes with them, they are changed in the way that conflict changes men deep inside.
Individually they’re powerful portraits of the way war changes men. Together they have the emotional impact that a dozen Full Metal Jacket type films only wish they had. When all is said and done, Tom Hanks can be credited with one of the great war films of the modern era in Saving Private Ryan and the definitive mini-series on two of the major theatres of the Second World War.
On a Bonus Disc there’s a documentary entitled He Has Seen War, a piece on the experiences of war from the men who’ve lived through it. It mainly focuses on the post-war experience and adjusting back to civilian life after the Second World War.
Band of Brothers Extras:
We Stand Alone: The Men of Easy Company is an 80 minute documentary piece on the series. Featuring the surviving men from Easy Company discussing the events of the part of World War II they fought, we get to see and hear them discuss the events of the series from the only perspective they know: having lived them. It’s remarkable to hear them discuss what they lived through with such clarity
There’s a generic Behind the Scenes about the series as well as Video Diaries from star Ron Livingston. There’s a Photo Gallery and a Who’s Who to identify the characters against their counterparts in the documentary as well as show off the main characters in the series.
The Pacific Extras:
Profiles of The Pacific is a series of profiles about the real men crafted into characters of the series. Running around 50 minutes in total, it’s a great introductory piece to the characters and the men they portrayed.
There’s a generic Making of piece about the film as well as a quick 10 minute tutorial on the Pacific Theatre of the war itself.
Individually they’re worth the cost. Together, and with a nifty case, they’re ideal for anyone looking for an insight into both the Second World War and into the way conflict changes men.
HBO presents Band of Brothers / The Pacific Special Edition Gift Set. Not rated. Released on DVD November 8, 2011 Available at Amazon.com.
