Band of Brothers

I watched this entire HBO miniseries in the space of a couple weeks and I was blown away by it. Being produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks you sort of expect a good product, but everything can turn out to be a dud. Fortunately, this didn't.

It's the story of "Easy Company," a group of paratroopers that was involved in some of the most important battles that helped turn World War II around and gave us the final victory over Hitler's army.

There are also interviews with the surviving soldiers at the beginning of some episodes, which poignantly remind you that all you're about to see really happened.

And what you do see, is astounding. So many times I was just shaking my head, thinking we should show this to every civilian leader (like Bush and Cheney) who never experienced what it is like to fight in a war (like Bush and Cheney) and who's thinking of declaring war on another country (especially if for all the wrong reasons... like in Iraq).

War really is horrible. What soldiers go through in war cannot be fathomed and it's impossible to believe that they aren't deeply changed and scarred forever, but this miniseries does a very good job of trying, and certainly succeeds as much as it is possible.

Grade: 9.5