Band of Brothers [VHS]

This series is a must see movie series. The series as a whole goes above a beyond to show the heroism of easy company. The greatest generation we owe our lives too.

Every part of this series is special. From the interviews with the men who were there to the acting of the actors. The writing, the sets, the directing.. Mini series like this are special. They go beyond being entertainment. This is worth more then a documentary or a document because this makes you feel how they were feeling. It helps those who have never seen war to in some way understand it's horrors and in this way it helps humanity respect peace.This is a masterpiece.

Arrived in like new condition. Great value for the quality.

I had it recorded on a couple devices and they always had issues and I would loose my recordings so now I have it for whenever I want to watch. Like the bonus cd. If you like it just buy it and you will always have it.

I miss Easy company…..

I am writing this review in memory of my Grandfather, 1st. Sergeant Oda (pronounced Odie) Patton. He was in the heavy artillery division. At first, he wanted to join the navy because he heard that they had better food, but he was colored blind and didn't pass the physical requirements, so he volunteered for the Army instead. I asked him one time if we were kin to General Patton, and my Grandfather said, only distantly. He said he saw Patton during the war only once and it was from far off, the General being driven away in a jeep. I think my Papaw had a rough time with the name Patton on his uniform. People either expected something out of him, or disliked him for that name. My Grandfather would not speak of the war to me in any detail until late in his life, and it was just bits and pieces of what sounded like regret not bravado, and his words were vague at best about that time in his life. He said that he was a different man over in Europe and spent his life after the service as a Baptist minister; I suspect in atonement for self perceived transgressions. He was a hard man, but fair. I told him one time that I don't believe I could have made it through what he did. He said that I would have been alright because of the soldiers I would have been surrounded by. Though he didn't talk about the more horrible things he'd seen or did, he did mention a few names and times. I know that he was part of Patton's third army, and was part of a hundred mile march that nearly killed him, and his toes had only stumps of nails on them because of it. He was at or around several of the locations in this film. I remember him speaking of a place called Bastong (not sure of the spelling) he spoke of being cold and hungry. He spoke of the sound of shrapnel thumping into the snow banks around him. He said being a country boy helped him survive, he kept his men alive by killing cows and tying them across his half track. It was so cold the carcasses froze and they would chop pieces off with a hatchet to cook when they could, and eat raw if they could not start a fire; thawing bites out in a rag in their pockets As he grew sicker with cancer, he revealed a few things. I will not speak of them because he would not want people to know the horrible things he had to do over there. It honestly sounded like Hell to me. I would not have recognized my "Papaw". Ironically, the one thing that seemed to bother him more than anything else was about a soldier that had been killed; an explosion had buried the body under a stack of wood by an old house. My Grandfather, could see the poor soldier from high atop his vehicle as they rode past...he said that he hoped that man got the burial he deserved and was not left behind. My Grandfather did not want a military funeral. But the family placed a plaque at the foot of his grave anyway: Oda Patton served in World War 2, and Korea. After the Victory, he trained artillery squads until his twenty years was up. He retired a twenty year veteran just months before deployment to Viet Nam. He died three days after the attack on our country on Sept 11. He would not watch movies like Band of Brothers. I saw him get nearly sick when he watched the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. He was at my house watching the movie. As those troops were cut to pieces trying to deploy from the amphibious assault vehicles, he got up to leave and said that he "didn't want to see that"...that's all he would say, and he left. Three days before his death, and we were watching the twin towers in New York burn on the endless broadcasts, he asked me to turn off the t.v. I have a folder. A THICK folder of situations for exemplary performance where he trained men at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. I remember seeing his ribbons and decorations in a drawer. They were not on display. They were in there with old broken wrist watches, fingernail clippers, and lose change. Years later, after his burial, and I was a grown man and had a family of my own, I went to that drawer and looked for those ribbons that were meant to be worn on a uniform. The family wanted those ribbons and pins. They were not there. I looked everywhere. They were never found. Now that I look back, I think my Grandfather threw them away; not out of disrespect or contempt, but because they were so painful to look at. He never kept in contact with any "Army buddies," he had no mementos or spoils of war. He didn't want to see people that had known him when he was a vicious soldier whom was doing what it took to try and keep himself and his fellow soldiers alive. I think he just wanted to forget. But as I turned the t.v. off that day, and the folks at the hospital was lowering the flag to half mast for the poor people in New York, I realized that though he spent over forty plus years (after his retirement) trying to forget anything that had to do with the Army, he never could.

A great movie

Simply put, this is one of my all-time favorite TV mini-series.Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg, as executive producers, and the cast and crew did a tremendous job of recreating the American paratrooper experience in World War II.There are so many things I enjoy about this mini-series, it's hard to write them in narrative fashion, so I'll use bullet points:* The use of interviews of actual Easy Company members to open the episodes, telling their memories of the actual battles and their thoughts and emotions. Some of them are identified in the final episode.* The dessicated color, which is similar to that of the US Army Signal Corps color footage of the time, along with hand-held camera work, which puts the viewer directly "in" the battle scenes. Unlike "The Longest Day," these battles are neither "clean" nor distant. You're right there in the gore, and there's a lot of it.* The use of Ron Livingston's character as an intelligence officer (and therefore, a "know-it-all") to provide the linking information about strategy and the progress of the war.* Each episode focusing on a different theme or subject: training, assault, overcoming fear, settling in as a replacement, leadership, medical care, reaching personal breaking points, endurance, resilience, dealing with horror, and picking up life after it's all over.* Outstanding performances by ensemble actors who were trained in a "boot camp" atmosphere for their role.* Attention to period detail...the equipment and dialogue matches the war and the 1940s.* The use of subtlety...for example, when we first meet Sgt. Carwood Lipton, he has just sewn on his sergeant's stripes, indicating that he has been freshly recognized for his leadership skills, which will expand through the series. In that same episode, Colonel Sink describes an exercise plan to his officers -- that's the one they actually carry out.* Michael Kamen's superb musical score.My three most favorite moments in the series are these:1. The aerial and seaborne armada heading for Normandy under the Kamen music...I remember the great CBS reporter and commentator Andy Rooney, in his essay on D-Day, writing about how that invasion was not about achieving glory or conquest, but simply an effort to free a continent from it enslavers and return it to its rightful owners, and thus, one of the most unselfish acts in history. When I think of that phrase, the immense effort behind it, and the immense sacrifice to achieve it, and see that scene, I'm moved to tears.2. The "Why We Fight" episode, in which the Easy Company guys come face-to-face with the true horror of Hitler's regime and the task of defeating him hits home -- to most GIs, even paratroopers, it was a dirty and tough job to be done, not a moral crusade. Entering those camps changed all that, and the Americans understood what the war was about -- it was more than the phrase that is taken from the Frank Capra films. "Why We Fight" is for a strong moral reason.3. A scene near the very end -- and I apologize for the spoiler -- in which a surrendering German general asks permission to say farewell to his troops. We see exhausted and surrendering German soldiers, battered by war, listening to their general. He gives a speech, which Gottlieb translates into English, and you suddenly realize that the German general's speech could apply to the guys in Easy Company, or any other American combat unit -- or a British unit...or a Canadian unit...or a New Zealand unit...an Australian unit...a Soviet unit...just about any military unit in World War II (or many other wars), with the certain exception of such sadists as an SS Einsatzkommando, Japan's Unit 731, or the Dirlewanger Brigade...he is giving a benediction to all the kids who get conscripted into and caught up in their country's wars, and suffer and endure.It is a brilliant scene because you know that the American generals (and British and Canadian and New Zealand) and their colonels and captains gave similar speeches to their own armies, and Easy Company's men heard it from their bosses. But that would be cliched. All you would need to complete the cliche would be a band. For the audience to hear it from a German general raises that moment from the cliched to the specific (of the place and time) and the universal (of the statement being offered). It's a powerful scene, in a powerful mini-series, and the timing of its appearance on HBO -- during and after 9/11, was a source of strength and inspiration to Americans during an agonizing moment in their history.As for these aging men of the real company -- I will never forget how they were specially honored and recognized at the 2002 Emmy ceremony, and am grateful to have had the privilege to meet and dine with the family of one of them -- Wild Bill Guarnere.It should go on to inspire future generations to match and excel Easy Company's deeds, and every American should watch it.

É bom mas não tem dublagem em português

Ich habe mir die Teile in zwei Tagen rein gezogen und war begeistert Eben ein echter Spielberg . Zum Thema Krieg kann ich nur sagen, hart, grausam, brutal . Ich hoffe wir alle müssen so was nie erleben.Die DISC 6 fand ich noch besonders gut mit den Aussagen der Überlebenden der Air Born, sollte man nicht verpassen.

Bien

Excelente serie, excelente historia, excelente sonido y excelente transfer a HD. No hay más que decir en cuestión dela serie en sí.La caja en cambio, sí tiene un problema. Esta versión tiene los sujetadores de discos demasiado delgados. Ocasionando que si se mueven con algo de fuerza, se caigan (mientras este abierta la caja, claro está, cerrados hacen presión y no se mueven.)Ese es el único inconveniente. Igual, como es costumbre en las nuevas ediciones Blu Ray, el arte de los discos es monocromático de una baja calidad para abaratar costos, detalle que no afecta en el video o audio, pero que si es un punto a resltar si estás buscando la otra versión en Blu Ray que viene con sujetadores individuales y el arte a todo color. Esta versión es barata y eficiente. De nuevo, mi queja es con los sujetadores de discos.

"Band of Brothers", creata da Tom Hanks e Steven Spielberg e trasmessa nel 2001 su HBO, è la mini-serie più costosa della storia della televisione (125 milioni di $ ). È anche una delle più riuscite. Ha ricevuto cinque Emmy Awards e un Golden Globe nel 2002.Basata sul lavoro dello storico Stephen E. Ambrose, Hanks e Spielberg raccontano cronologicamente e particolarmente minuziosamente la vita della Compagnia Easy, ovvero la Compagnia E del 2º Battaglione di Fanteria Paracadutista della 101ª Divisione Aviotrasportata degli Stati Uniti; dalla loro formazione nel 1942, al loro essere paracadutati in Normandia il 6 giugno 1944 fino alla liberazione della Germania nazista nel 1945.Prima di essere una serie di guerra, "Band of Brothers" è soprattutto una serie di personaggi, personaggi posti in una situazione al tempo stesso terribile ed eroica.Ogni episodio è preceduto da testimonianze dei sopravvissuti di questa compagnia, che servono da introduzione alle immagini e per attestare la loro accuratezza. Raccontano ciò che hanno passato, li vediamo ripensare, emozionandosi, a questi eventi.Spielberg, appassionato della seconda guerra mondiale, ha quindi come obiettivo principale il non dimenticare queste importanti figure del XX secolo e ciò che hanno fatto anche se la serie non è un inno alla guerra ma parla della guerra e delle atrocità commesse da entrambe le parti, della stupidità della gerarchia.Spielberg trasmette un messaggio che suona intransigente e che non cerca di accentuare oltre modo l'inevitabile lato emotivo.Ma il potere di Band of Brothers risiede anche e soprattutto nella sua messa in scena. Senza rimpiangere da un lato "Salvate il soldato Ryan" (sempre del team Spielberg-Hanks), dobbiamo ammettere di essere di fronte a una realizzazione di altissimo livello: scatti da 60 fotogrammi al secondo, telecamere a mano immerse nella violenza durante le sequenze di conflitti armati, ma anche una realizzazione più morbida nelle sequenze cosiddette "silenziose".La realizzazione ci avvicina molto ai personaggi; senza l'uso di un pathos esasperato impariamo a convivere con loro, noi spettatori, nell'asprezza della loro situazione come, ad esempio, dimostra la presa della città di Carentan nell'episodio 3: estremamente brutale e violenta, connotata dal sangue delle ferite ma anche dalla crudezza dell'immagine, come se la cinepresa partecipasse attivamente al conflitto.Molti registi si avvicendano nei vari episodi tra cui lo stesso Tom Hanks (episodio 5, Punto cruciale/Crossroads) e questo costituisce un altro aspetto positivo di questa serie.Passiamo quindi ad altri punti di vista, su diversi personaggi, espandendo le nostre percezioni emotive (buone o cattive) di questo gruppo di soldati pronti a fare qualsiasi cosa per combattere insieme contro il nemico.Niente di totalmente patriottico e idealmente salvifico, tutto è mostrato da un punto di vista il più neutrale possibile.La miniserie è poi servita da un cast di attori eccellenti (dove possiamo distinguere Damian Lewis e Neal McDonough ma anche gli inizi di James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender e Colin Hanks...) e con loro siamo immersi al massimo nell'azione.Molte sono le scene "forti" e tra queste è l'arrivo al campo di sterminio vicino a Landsberg: qui i sopravvissuti della "Compagnia Easy", dopo l'atterraggio in Normandia, dopo aver lasciato Eindhoven, dopo aver attraversato il Belgio e aver visto Bastogne in rovina, uomini che hanno pur vissuto con la morte per mesi facendo affidamento solo sul loro coraggio e volontà, si trovano drammaticamente davanti uno scenario al di là di ogni immaginazione. Con il naso intasato dal fetore del luogo, esitano a sciogliersi in lacrime davanti a gruppi di non morti vestiti in pigiama a strisce che li affrontano dietro una rete di filo spinato.La telecamera quindi sembra ubriaca, gira, facce spaventate ed emaciate, corpi appena umani, ridotti allo stato di scheletri e che camminano come se fluttuassero nell'aria. La telecamera si gira e si avverte un forte senso di nausea, la stessa nausea che afferra questi soldati che sono sopravvissuti alla distruzione e all'orrore. Non ci sono parole, nessuno parla.Band of Brothers è una serie da non perdere, che si rivela una delle più grandi serie statunitensi di sempre, ma anche una delle migliori opere visive che si occupano della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.Senza pathos, senza eccessiva emotività e dotato di un sorprendente realismo tanto nella messa in scena quanto nel trattamento dei personaggi, la serie oltre a mostrare l'orrore e l'insensatezza di qualsiasi guerra non dimentica i temi dell'amicizia e della solidarietà, uno dei pochi lati positivi di questo conflitto.Il cofanetto è veramente un buon prodotto.I 6 dischi Blu-ray che lo compongono offrono una qualità audio/video eccellente (confermo che l'audio italiano è in formato Dolby Digital Multi-Channel 5.1).Potete trovare da soli tutte le specifiche tecniche (lingue, sottotitoli, etc.) ma devo assolutamente sottolineare la ricchezza dei contenuti extra presenti su ogni disco.Se vi piacciono le storie di guerra e vi interessate alla Storia, questa miniserie sulla Seconda Guerra Mondiale si rivela un prodotto di estrema professionalità registica ed attoriale, accuratezza storica e dal forte impatto emotivo ed umano, e non dovrebbe mancare nella vostra personale videoteca.