IMDb #195 Review: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Source: Wikipedia

Though seldom depicted onscreen, the final battle of World War II was fought in suburban America. Rehabilitation. Battered soldiers resume civilian life, moving from danger and mayhem to soul-sucking mundanity.

Three guys returning from war discover they came from the same time. They bear their battle scars in different ways. One guy misses the glory days and camaraderie; one guy misses his sweetheart, who didn't miss him; one guy misses having hands.

The setting feels like peering into a time capsule, but the problems sting of the painfully familiar. Nobody uses words like "depression," "alcoholism," "nicotine addiction," "veteran unemployment," or "post-traumatic stress disorder." But here we are. If these weren't the supposedly "good old days" of American culture (with unbelievably low supermarket prices), I'd think it fresh and timely.

The lovelorn officer, who dropped bombs on Huns instead of garnering occupational training, works in a drugstore. The handless wonder becomes an untouchable, the target with poisoned kindness, when he just wants to be treated like anybody else. The proud father fends off nightmares with booze abuse and chumming with his newfound military buddies. Because they understand.

Of course the people who stayed behind can't understand how much war changed them.

To balance out the crushing realism, there's a discount package of romantic subplots, such as a mutual instance of marital infidelity. To meet the movie drama quotient, you know. The chief instigator: a blonde chatterbox fond of military men and of frittering away Uncle Sam's money.

The result is three hours of falling smiles. When those smiles land and break, the crushed remains coagulate into bittersweet half-smiles. Hardly a glamorous postwar movie, but it's sincere, heartfelt. It grants a glimpse into a world long gone, with pains that remain alarmingly relevant.

172 minutes.