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Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 November 2011This has to be one of the best value for money box sets you can get (£37 at the time of writing). I already owned Band of Brothers on dvd and was going to buy the Pacific on blu ray but thought i may as well upscale BoB at the same time for a few more quid.
I was pleased I did.
The black case is not just a slip containing two tins as i thought it might be, its a good case containing the two series in their own inserts as well as a passport style case with a bonus disc with a documentary called "He has seen war".
If anybody has not seen these series before they are, in my opinion, one of the best things that have ever been on telly. In terms of war films i like saving private ryan, the thin red line, battle of britain and platoon, so that should give you some idea if you share my tastes.
As each series contain ten episodes you get a chance to really get interested in the characters and to care about their plights. This adds a dimension that you don't really get with films.
There are really powerful moments that make you stop to think how brutal the war must have been, and others (such as the liberation of the death camp) that show you some of the autrocities people could commit against their fellow man.
The thing that sets these apart for me is the interviews with surviving veterans at the start of each episode. There is one interview where an ex US soldier talks about how he felt engaging with the enemy and being ordered to kill someone who, in another situation, he may have been friends with. At times these interviews can be moving as they recall the horrors they lived through and the friends they lost. Nothing could set the scene for the episode more beautifully.
The series scrubs up very well on blu ray, the d day drops and the battle in Carentarn in particular are stunning.
The bonus documentary was a plesant surprise, and gives a really good account of how the heroes of easy company struggled to get back to the normality of everyday life. I never thought about how difficult it must have been to resume your life after having served in a World War, it is really well made and gives the whole thing an even greater personal element.
I actually watched that this evening, i thought it was apt given today is 11.11, and i know have even greater respect for those we remembered today.
I know i've gone on a bit but in summary, brilliant piece of telly, i slightly prefer BoB to the Pacific, and this should be given to A-level history students to watch as homework.
