Band of Brothers

Okay, just a quick note about our latest late-night viewing series. Has anyone else seen Band of Brothers? I think it was an HBO series at one time, but Ellis and I have been getting it from the library and watching it late every night because it's too hard to stop watching. Seriously amazing. (Although I have been really tired every day.)

It's so well-done and completely gripping that even though I feel like I may fall asleep on my feet before I can even get the kids into bed, once we start watching Band of Brothers, I'm immediately alert. Now, I'm notorious for falling asleep while watching, um, well, anything at night. I often wake up and find myself huddled on the couch by myself at 2:00 in the morning, silently cursing Ellis for leaving me there alone. (He repeatedly claims he "tries" to wake me up before finally going to bed, but I'm not buying it.)

But back to Band of Brothers. I absolutely cannot fall asleep watching this. I'm too tense during the whole thing. For those who, like me, didn't really know anything about it, the series is about a company of American WWII paratroopers. You see them go through D-Day at Normandy, Market Garden, and the infamous winter at Batogne (I actually have no idea if I'm spelling that right -- Peggy?) It's totally horrifying to see this portrayal of a war I already knew to be horrific.

Something I really love about this series is how each episode is told a little differently. You get different perspectives and different tellings -- sometimes just shown from a particular soldier's point of view, sometimes with a 1st person narrative going on. So incredibly well acted, directed, edited, etc. We have just two discs left in the series, and I'm really anxious to see how it turns out. Okay, yes, I know we won that war. But you would not believe how heart-wrenching it is to see these guys who have bonded and fought together for over two years get blown apart (literally) and have to deal with both the physical and mental casualties of war.

If you have not seen it, go to your library (or Blockbuster if you're not cheap like us), and get it. Now.