If you have not yet seen the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers do yourself a favor, head down to your local video store and rent it. I would suggest buying it but at $90, rent it and keep it for an extra week..... far cheaper.
Why do I say rent this movie? Well, because it is simply the best movie about war I think that has ever graced the screen, big or small. Ten episodes long, at about an hour or so per episode, this epic mini-series follows the 101st Airborne, Easy Company from training, to D-Day to their taking of Hitler's Eagles Nest. If you don't know about Easy Company, then you just don't realize you do. Many of the heroics of WWII were heroics of that company. This movie doesn't glorify war nor does it belittle war, it seems to simply tell it like it was. Each episode takes on a different part of the war telling the story of Easy Company chronologically, but using each episode to delve into a different part of the war. A few episodes are actually about full fledge combat, but others are about soldiers trying to make the best of a situation they would rather not be living through. When all 10 episodes are done, you will feel as though you have a better understanding for the soul of WWII and the men who sacrificed so much so that the people of Europe and the rest of world could enjoy the freedoms they now do. An added bonus in every episode, that gives each part reflection, are the true accounts by the men themsevles of life in Easy Company during WWII. These men, now in their golden years, reflect back on that which was and how they saw it then and how they see it today. Eye opening were their thoughts on the German soldiers, their enemy and who they were trained to kill.
I have now watched this mini-series twice. First when it was on HBO a few years back and this past week as it was aired on the History channel. It drives home so much of what is going on in the world today and helps me to put in perspective that which I have that they basically shed blood for. It also gives new respect to the men and women serving throughout the military, but especially in the Middle East. The war they are fighting isn't as big or as well understood and thankfully the death toll isn't as high; but the war they are fighting is none-the-less as important and basically being fought for the same ideals as WWII was 60 years ago.
Don't take my word for the greatness of this Tom Hanks & Steven Spieldburg production. Rent it yourself and see how this epic can give a war, we have seen relived in movies so many times before, a new spirit and how it can truly give anyone that watches a new appreciation for what war is to the men and women who fight.
Check it out!