After reading Paul Auster’s Sunset Park, a novel with its pros (strong start) and cons (weak finish), I was more curious about a film obsessed throughout by the book’s many characters.

The Best Days of Our Lives explores the stories of three WWII veterans coming home to revisit their previous Midwestern civilian lives. An American drama, the film was released in 1946 and won seven Academy Awards including a supporting actor award for Harold Russell, a first-time actor selected to play the role of Homer, a former all-star high school athlete who returns home from the navy with hooks for hands.

In many ways, the film is timeless. There are scenes so humanizing that thoughtfully unveil just how difficult coming home from war can be even when returning to a loving wife, a fiance in waiting, or to children. With the war in Afghanistan over, more and more military servicemen and women are coming home, and that’s incredible. Yet, it’s easy to overlook the sacrifice, and this film was a nice reminder of how the many layers of psyche that make that journey difficult.

I found this particular scene so moving… an important metaphor - a lone soldier treads into a graveyard of abandoned aircrafts, he wanders and finds his way into the only place where he feels valued - the bomber jet he used to command. Watch.

1 Notes/ Hide

  1. brieflynoted posted this