Band Of Brothers – Colin Hanks, Dale Dye, Damian Lewis, David Schwimmer – Blu-ray

A genuinely epic achievement the 10-part World War II drama IBand of Brothers/I is a television series that makes big-screen Hollywood war movies look small in comparison. Based on the book by historian Stephen Ambrose the series follows the US 101st Airborne Division's 'Easy' E-Company from initial training through D-Day and across Holland Belgium Germany and Austria until the end of the war. Coproduced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks the series take its initial inspiration from ISaving Private Ryan/I and borrows that film's visceral visual approach to combat scenes using hand-held camerawork and de-saturated photography. But where IBand of Brothers/I excels is in its scrupulous attention to the realities of military life (retired US Marine Captain Dale Dye who also co-stars is the man to credit). p After the high drama of the parachute drop on D-Day Easy's greatest trial comes during the Battle of the Bulge when they are besieged at Bastogne in the depths of winter. In one of the m