Seventeen years ago on September 9, 2001, a documentary-like mini-series tribute to D-Day and to WWII, Band of Brothers, aired its two first episodes. Two days later that same year the world turned upside down. It was very difficult for any entertainment to be very entertaining in the days after September 11, 2001. If there were people who looked at ratings, advertising revenue, critical reviews and other such metrics to gauge the success of a series, chances are that they, like the rest of us, were distracted by other headlines. On this anniversary, I wanted to examine how Band of Brothers was perceived by critics, before and after September 11, 2001.
On the 17th anniversary of Band of Brothers, my post will be a revisit to my second post on this blog, “Before Nicholas Brody, there was Dick Winters”. Seems the love for Band of Brothers has never abated in anyone’s minds and the honor of portraying a true American hero lives on in Damian’s mind too. He tweeted on Winters’ death anniversary:
RIP MAJOR DICK WINTERS who died on this day 2011. An honour to have portrayed you. A man of few words and heroic actions. An inspiration to us all.
Band of Brothers is a masterful series that taps into every possible emotion that you can feel and it pulls absolutely no punches when trying to display and emphasise the horrors the men and woman fighting in World War II faced.
Band of Brothers sets out to remember those who served in World War II and show us what they had to endure. There is so much for each of us to take from the series, but my own impressions are that the intention was not to glorify war or to paint these men as superhuman.
There is a touching moment (among many) in the extras when Major Dick Winters quotes a passage from a letter he received from Sergeant Mike Ranney, “I cherish the memories of a question my grandson asked me the other day when he said, ‘Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?’ Grandpa said ‘No…but I served in a company of heroes’.”Continue reading “Remembrance 2017”
It is Fan Story Tuesday again and this week we have a collection of different stories from a few of our readers. The response to the wonderful idea by Damianista (co-inspired by Lady Trader) to share how we each discovered Damian has been fantastic. We have lots of stories to share so if yours hasn’t popped up yet, please be assured ladies and gents, we will get to them and we do appreciate your sharing with us!
Damian Lewis was the guest of celebrated Times Talks at Directors Guild Theater and had a great conversation with Cara Buckley, a New York Times culture reporter and the new Carpetbagger.
Well, on the day the UK votes to stay in or leave the European Union, a conversation with a British actor calls for a question about Brexit. And that was Buckley’s opening question. And, somehow, the conversation turned more political than I thought it would and I enjoyed it immensely. We all know celebrities tend to avoid from getting involved in political conversation probably because they do not want to lose fans. And I understand that. On the other hand, one may be an actor, a doctor, a teacher, or anything else, but first and foremost we are all citizens and we have responsibility to speak our minds about issues that we care about. And just THIS, I believe, makes an individual, regardless of who she or he is, and regardless you agree with her or him, a good citizen of the world. Thus, I applaud Cara Buckley for her hard-hitting questions and Damian Lewis for speaking his mind thoughtfully, knowledgeably and graciously. He was certainly in TOP form providing compelling arguments along with brilliant humor that cracked up the room one too many times!
Now, it is quite a task to turn a one hour and fifteen minute conversation into about 2500 words. But I have such delicious quotes from Damian and I would love to build the review around them. Plus I have a BIG surprise for you! I have been able to have an exclusive interview with Damian after the event which I proudly call “Fan Fun Talks.” Why not? You can see our interview with Damian at the end of this review.
Seventeen years ago on September 9, 2001, a documentary-like mini-series tribute to D-Day and to WWII, Band of Brothers, aired its two first episodes. Two days later that same year the world turned upside down. It was very difficult for any entertainment to be very entertaining in the days after September 11, 2001. If there were people who looked at ratings, advertising revenue, critical reviews and other such metrics to gauge the success of a series, chances are that they, like the rest of us, were distracted by other headlines. On this anniversary, I wanted to examine how Band of Brothers was perceived by critics, before and after September 11, 2001.