Steven Spielberg not only chronicled the Allied landings in Normandy in “Saving Private Ryan,” he also chronicled the infamous D-Day in “Comrades in Arms.” And according to one expert, it’s particularly realistic…
With Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg has written the history of war cinema: the breathtaking opening sequence of over 20 minutes, which depicts what is known as D-Day, the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, is a technical masterpiece – so realistic that it was even necessary to set up an emergency line for veterans because of the risk of new trauma.
But it was not only in his five-time Oscar-winning epic that Spielberg dedicated himself to telling the famous Operation Overlord, considered a decisive blow against Hitler and a turning point in the Second World War. Three years later, he took up the same and started over, in a way, by co-producing the miniseries Brothers in Arms with the lead actor of Saving Private RyanTom Hanks.
In the second episode of the ten-part series, which features an impressive cast including Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Scott Grimes, Ron Livingston, Andrew Scott, Shane Taylor, Michael Cudlitz, Neal McDonough, Michael Fassbender, David Schwimmer, Tom Hardy, James McAvoy, Jimmy Fallon and Simon Pegg, Spielberg and Hanks recreate D-Day – and more realistically than ever, as historian Dan Snow pointed out on his YouTube channel “Dan Snow's History Hit”, where he praised the series.
“I think it's one of the great scenes in television history. They put the actors through the kind of tactical training that these men would have gone through, the sound design and weapons are top notch.”
He added: “They fired World War II weapons to create an accurate soundscape and show the importance of small units of well-trained and well-led men, each of whom played their part on D-Day and make up the sum total of all those small actions that meant D-Day was a success, and the Allies suffered fewer casualties than they feared when they reached those beaches.”
HBO
Invested, as always, Steven Spielberg has done a lot to watch Brothers in arms gives you the'impression of being there and feeling what one would have felt if involved in the largest war operation in History, from its preparation to its final execution.
Brothers in arms was followed by the miniseries Band of Brothers: The Last of Us in 2010. Spielberg and Hanks did it again in early 2010.'year by co-producing the excellent Masters of the Air, which accompanied the two other aforementioned shows.
Brothers in Arms and Pacific Inferno can be watched again in streaming on the Max platform. Masters of the Air, whose trailer can be seen below, is available on Apple TV+.