Easy Company Medic Eugene Roe

NJ Star Ledger - Oct. 26, 2001

Easy Company Medic Eugene Roe: Band Of Brothers in the News: NJ Star Ledger - Oct. 26, 2001

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By Chris Langlois (Chrisdfw) (209.245.231.13 - 209.245.231.13) on Sunday, October 28, 2001 - 10:14 am:

All TV: Worth a look

10/26/01

As American troops fight the first war of the 21st century, it may be tempting to dismiss HBO's mammoth World War II miniseries Band of Brothers as irrelevant or even inappropriate. But that misses the point. If anything, this saga of courage under fire has taken on even greater meaning since its debut, two days before 9/11.

Though the era and the enemy may be different, many of the points raised by the miniseries apply just as well to the caves outside Kandahar as they do to the icy forests of Bastogne: the human costs of a "good war," the danger of letting your guard drop even for a second, the sheer hell of combat.

Despite a $120 million budget, a producing team that reunited Saving Private Ryan partners Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, massive hype and rave reviews, Band of Brothers hasn't turned into a blockbuster hit for HBO. Each airing Sunday at 9 is averaging roughly 6 million viewers, about what Six Feet Under was drawing in the summer. It's a solid performer ("The network is very happy with the (ratings)," says HBO spokeswoman Tobe Becker), but not another Sopranos.

Is the lower-than-expected audience because HBO suspended all off-air promotion for the project after Sept. 11? Because it's the first HBO series to go up against the launch of the broadcast networks' new season? Because viewers suddenly weren't in the mood for a war story?

I don't know, but it's a shame that more people aren't watching, especially since the series only continues to get better. After some early episodes that were more interested in gore and visual pyrotechnics than story or characterization, this account of the real-life men of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne has developed amazing power and focus in the past few weeks.

The turning point came during the two Battle of the Bulge episodes, when Hanks and company started to tell each hour through the eyes of a particular character (a burnt-out medic in the first, an overextended sergeant in the second). Originally, the only character we knew well was Damian Lewis' taciturn Captain Winters. By turning the spotlight elsewhere, all the explosions and fire fights became more powerful, because it was easier to know and care about the men getting hit.

This weekend's episode follows that pattern, and may be the best hour yet.

Our point-of-view soldier this time is Lieutenant Nixon (exceptionally played by Ron Livingston of The Practice), the tactical genius whose alcoholism has grown exponentially as the war has gone on. The war is practically over, yet Nixon can't stop drinking, until he's temporarily sobered by the men's discovery of a concentration camp filled with barely-alive Jews.

Even in light of current events, the camp sequence packs an amazing emotional punch, because some evils never lose their horror. In this case, it's made even more horrible because we see it from the perspective of Nixon and dozens of other soldiers who had no idea this was happening. (The first soldiers on the scene don't even understand what they've found.) The entire segment stacks up to anything in Spielberg's Schindler's List.

Band of Brothers can be hard to watch at times, especially now, but it's incredibly rewarding if you're willing to give it a fighting chance.

-- Alan Sepinwall

By rsgqrqvxe (61.206.117.246) on Friday, March 12, 2010 - 03:51 am: