The Best Years of Our Lives

"Last year it was kill japs. This year it's make more money"

The Best Years of Our Lives is one of the cornerstones of American cinema and is probably the earliest mainstream example of an American film that deals directly with the trauma associated with war service. Coming only two years after the end of WWII, director William Wyler had the audacity to confront these issues in a climate that wasn't neccessarily receptive to such concepts. A tightly observed ensemble drama, The Best Years of Our Lives examines the post-war lives of three returning servicemen. Each comes from a different sector of the armed forces, and each is from very different walks of life. Despite not actually knowing each other during the war, their shared experiences see them bond upon their return to the fictional midwestern township of Boone City (it could be any American community) and we follow their lives as they attempt and struggle with re-adjusting to civillian life.

Our three protagonists are Al (Fredric March), Fred (Dana Andrews) and Homer (Harold Russell). Al is an older sergeant, a family man who has been married for twenty years and is returning to a job as a bank manager. Fred is a young man returning to his war-bride, he comes from a poor family and is surprised to find that his wife has become independent in his absence. Homer is a simple, happy-go-lucky midwestern kid who lost both arms during the war and is apprehensive about seeing his high school sweetheart again. All three are nervous about reuniting with their families after several years away, and all three are initially yet to grasp the full extent of how the war has impacted on them. Fred in particular bears psychological wounds from his time as a bombardier, and Homer's capable, uncomplicated nature is at odds with how others deal with him now that both his arms have been replaced with prosthetic clasping devices. Al is happy to see his family again but in some ways he has become a stranger to them, and he has difficulty reconciling the practices of his employer with his own personal views of community outreach.

The best thing about this film is that it doesn't tackle these ideas in a melodramatic fashion. Wyler has gone out of his way to make it as realistic as possible, he doesn't sugarcoat anything and even though certain aspects might be toned down for 1940s audiences (such as Al's use of alcohol as a coping mechanism) they're still there for modern audiences to uncover. One scene that I found somewhat shocking was the bit where Peggy (Teresa Wright) exclaims that she is going to break Fred's marriage up so that she can be with him. It would've been shocking for 1940s audiences because the sanctity of marriage was taken a lot more for granted then and adultery was a very taboo topic in the media at that time. It's shocking now for different reasons, Wright is such a sweet apple pie heroine that we don't expect her to be so unabashedly dark and ugly. It's a certain realism that's at odds with 1940s 'golden era' Hollywood... witness also the scenes where Al's family are uncomfortable and awkward around his drinking, or when Homer nervously stumbles on his wedding vows, or even little things like Al burping (it's hardly the sort of thing you even see outside of comedies these days, let alone in a serious 1946 drama).

If those aren't good enough reasons for you to watch this film then you should watch it just for Harold Russell's subplot as Homer, the all-American kid who made a sacrifice for his country and lost both of his arms. Harold Russell wasn't actually an actor when he was cast as Homer, he was a real-life serviceman who really did lose both his arms in a war-related accident. Big kudos go to the production team for casting a real-life amputee in the role, and extra big kudos go to both them and Russell for not turning it into an over-the-top tragedy. Homer is a capable and likeable 'kid', perfectly at ease with his disability up until the point where other people start treating him differently. As far as films that deal with disabilities go, it's way ahead of it's time and it still stands up today as realistic and unsensationalised. Having said that though, I just kept wanting to go back to Homer's story throughout the whole film... it was easily the most interesting part of it, and out of all three characters he (naturally) draws the most sympathy from the audience. My heart broke at how he always saw the upswing of the situation; "I'm lucky I have my elbows, some of the boys don't", even when people around him became socially awkward.

I half expected The Best Years of Our Lives to be a fairly black and white view of people on the home front being 'bad' or inconsiderate towards returning soldiers... but, of course, this is a film made by the public for the public, so it doesn't take such a straight-shooting stance - it's more complicated and balanced. Dramatically, it's forward thinking but (in keeping with its era and context) it's still firmly patriotic on the surface. No matter how bad things sometimes seem for these three WWII veterans, none of them really ever get all that angry at the situation they've been put in - there's no sense of these guys blaming anyone for what's happened. I guess America wasn't really ready for an angry returned serviceman... they could deal with sad and depressed by the 1950s (The Men) but angry didn't really come around until the late 1970s (Coming Home). Despite all this though, I think there's an argument to be made that there is an understated subtext in this film about the failure of America as an institution... Al's frustration in regards to the bank he works for, and the fact that Homer's wedding takes place inside his house rather than a living room, suggests some degree of America's returned servicemen rejecting or being rejected by the system. The biggest indication of this is the film's title - "the best years of our lives" is paraphrased once by a civillian character who expresses dismay at the years of her life that the war took away. There's a certain caustic irony in the fact that it's a civillian who says this, whilst the bulk of the film portrays our three war heroes suffering in silence.

DIRECTOR: William Wyler
WRITER/SOURCE: Script by Robert Sherwood, based on an article/novel by MacKinlay Kantor.
KEY ACTORS: Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Harold Russell, Virginia Mayo, Hoagy Carmichael

RELATED TEXTS:
- The film started life as an article in Time magazine. This was expanded into a novella, Glory for Me, which was later adapted into the film.
- Other significant films about soldiers returning home from war include The Men, Coming Home, Born on the Fourth of July, Act of Violence and The Burmese Harp.
- William Wyler previously directed Mrs. Miniver at the beginning of America's involvement in WWII.
- Also see The Hurt Locker, for a modern perspective on the way war affects people.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - won Best Film, Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Best Screenplay and an additional Honorary Award (Harold Russell). Also nominated for Best Sound.
BAFTAs - won Best Film.
Golden Globes - won Best Film (Drama) and a Special Award (Harold Russell).