While originally an HBO show, Band of Brothers has been on Netflix since June 2023, and if you still didn’t catch on, it might be the time to do so.
Due to the success of Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg, and Hanks decided to create a TV show out of a book written by Stephen Ambrose about a company of American soldiers on the Western Front in World War II.
The show follows a group of paratroopers serving in the E company of the 506th regiment of the famed 101st Airborne Division (the famed Screamin Eagles) from their training all the way to the end of the war.
Now, the thing is that the series is available in the U.S., Latin America, and parts of Asia. This means that if you want to watch it on Netflix, you might need a VPN. Now, using a VPN to use Netflix is a fairly simple thing; you just need to pick the right one.
1. It’s not just about the war
A lot of people would immediately dismiss this series with the excuse that wartime drama just “isn’t their thing.” A problem in this lies in the fact that it’s not a story about the war. It’s a theme as old as time - a story about a bond that forms between people in mortal peril. A story about wartime camaraderie.
To avoid major spoilers, later in the series, one of the characters quotes Shakespeare’s Henry V, stating that men who shed blood together become brothers in all but name. This was also Ambrose’s inspiration for the name of the book/series.
Throughout the series, you get to know these people on a personal basis and grow a genuine concern for their wellbeing. After all, it’s an HBO show, and if Game of Thrones did anything, it taught us that no one is immortal. This goes double for a story based on real people following the events of the bloodiest conflict in human history.
It’s also a story about a generation that’s slowly leaving us, the generation of our parents and great-grandparents. It’s a story about a generation, the greatest generation, the one that volunteered to go overseas into the hell of war, then returned to build their country into the superpower it is today.
2. So many familiar faces
This series is filled with stories of camaraderie and gut-wrenching events, but also some early appearances of people who will later become major movie stars. For instance, Michael Fasbender and Tom Hardy have minor roles in the series, but you must pay close attention to catch them. At one point, even Jimmy Fallon makes an appearance. All that they’re missing is a Nick Cage cameo.
While you may know him from his more famous role as the main protagonist in the early seasons of Homeland, Damian Lewis is just brilliant as Dick Winters, long-time commander of the E company.
And, before he was Jack Berger in Sex and the City, Ron Livingston was Lewis Nixon, the intelligence officer of the E company and Winters’ best friend and companion.
Fans of Donnie Wahlberg have one more reason to watch this series since his role as Carwood Lipton might just be the best example of his acting. From a member of New Kids on the Block (alongside his more famous kid brother, Mark) all the way to a reputable TV actor, no one could argue that this was a huge step in his career.
Even David Schwimmer (Ross from Friends) plays the tyrannical captain Sobel, the instructor of the E company at camp Tacoma.
3. A lesson in history
We live in a dangerous political climate. Holocaust denial is at its all-time high, and we’re witnessing an emergence of right-wing politics all over the world. This is why it’s so important to see this series as not just a lesson in history but a reminder of the truths that we’ve forgotten.
Episode nine, named Why We Fight (after a critically acclaimed wartime propaganda movie by Frank Capra), touches on these exact topics. It’s nauseating to watch, but there was never a time in history when seeing this was as relevant.
At the same time, the movie is about World War II, and it wouldn’t be that hard to imagine how making kids who are just learning about these operations watch the series might make them memorize more than just sticking to a textbook. Here, you have the depiction of everything from D-Day and Market Garden all the way to the Battle of the Bulge and the post-war occupation of Germany and Austria.
The best part is that it’s all real. Ambrose wrote his book based on real accounts of real people who served in the E company. This means that you get to see WWII through the eyes of real people, who, at the time, probably weren’t much older than you. In other words, it gives a personal touch to history.
4. Incredible quality of production
What we’re talking about when suggesting that you watch Band of Brothers is that you dive deeper into the golden age of HBO. It’s an era when HBO tried the hardest and a period in which we got gems like The Sopranos and criminally underrated masterpiece Rome.
The producers of the series went as far as to make all the actors undergo real paratrooper training and have instructors address everyone by their character name. This was done not just to get them in shape and character but also to help actors develop the bond necessary for authenticity.
The equipment is authentic, the sets are just incredible, and the cinematography is some of the best you’ll ever see. When it comes to war series realism, even today, it’s nearly impossible to find a movie/show that surpasses it. Well, that’s another thing: the production quality of this series is movie-grade.
5. It’s an amazing rabbit hole
The series has just ten episodes, and it’s a done deal. While some may find this to be less than satisfying, the truth is that in the era of never-ending shows and waiting for months for the new season to finish, finding a show that you can binge in a day or two is a blessing in disguise.
However, when you’re done, there’s a lot more content to go. You can read the book, watch a documentary (We Stand Alone Together), or just spend hours and hours reading Wikipedia articles on some of the characters and events from the series.
After all, you can always watch HBO’s Pacific, a spinoff set in the Pacific theater of war that attempts to be a spiritual successor to the original series. As for whether it succeeded, well... you are the one to decide.
Missing a chance to watch it while on Netflix would be a huge missed opportunity
At the moment, the show is ranked fourth on IMDB's top 250 TV shows of all time, and it’s a place well deserved. You shouldn’t miss an opportunity to watch it while it’s on Netflix since you never know for how long you’ll have this privilege. It has just ten episodes and it’s definitely worth your time.