Commentary on The Best Years of Our Lives
...or the first time in years. While some things are the same, we can tell that there are many that are not. Homer takes note of his cousin Butch's new sign on the bar, while the men on the golf course are the same as they were years ago. The seemingly insignificant details which someone living there may not take note of were a big deal to this returning war veteran. In one scene between Wilma and Homer's father, his father states "I wish I knew what to do for him." Homer's family was as lost as Homer was in not knowing how to address with his physical war injuries. Al Stephenson's return is full of joy and happiness, yet a sense of disquiet lurks in the background. His wife Milly, son Pat and daughter Peggy are overjoyed when their father walks in the front door. When Al is giving his son souvenirs, or gifts from the war it is evident that his son is confused. He tries to talk to his dad about what he has learned in school about the atomic bomb, and it is obvious that his father is a fighting man, not as up to date and well versed as his son on that subject. He appears restless, and you can tell his character is not settling in that well. Later, Al takes his daughter and wife for a night around the town of Boon City. During their night out they come across Fred, who has yet to locate his own wife. All of a sudden Homer, too, is there in the scene and so the three World War II veterans enjoy their reunion. There is something there between Peggy and Fred, which is visible from the start. There is a certain disquiet around Al Stephenson's character. No matter how his family and wife try to bridge the gap that has come between he and his family, He doesn't know how to deal with the growth of his children and remains distant from his wife. One of his comments is rather powerful: "Last year it was kill Japs. This year, it's make money... why can't they give a man time to get used to his family?" Employment was a big obstacle returning war veterans were faced with when they returned home. These men had spent years training to use weapons on the battlefield and to operate heavy war machinery. The initial reunion between the three returning war veterans at the bar is rather significant. It shows the three men attempting to reintegrate back into life at home. In the first bar scene, both Homer and Al want the pianist to play songs they remember from before they left the war. As if they wanted things to be just as they were. Al and Fred both become extremely intoxicated, leaving Milly and Peggy to care for them. The two women deal with the situation rather well, and end up taking a very drunk Al and Fred back to their home. The scene borders on black humor: it would be funny if it weren't for the seriousness behind it all. After putting the two men to bed, both Peggy and her mother look at one another and laugh as if to say: "what else can we do?" They are both so happy to have Al home they seem to be overlooking the first night's drunken ending. Homer heads home to his wife and family as well, the only one in the trio that is sober. Fred is tormented in his sleep by nightmares from the war. He is talking about war memories and people he served with, and Peggy goes in to wake him up. She tries to tell him "all you have to do is go to sleep." If only it had been that easy for returning war veterans. They had so much mental and psychological scarring to deal with that their return home was often bittersweet at best. Fred comes home to a wife he doesn't know and, after a short time back home, discovers that he hardly likes. She is a woman of superficiality, and her primary desire is for money and "the good life." In their initial reunion, she tells Fred "you didn't give me a chance to fix my face or anything!" Fred, however, can not provide her with the material goods she wants, and is forced to take on a job at the local drug store. This isn't good enough for his wife, and as tensions grow between the two so do Fred's feelings for Peggy. Fred finds that the woman he married before his departure to war wasn't who he thought she was. The first morning he is back, Fred shocks his new wife, who states "gee honey, this is first time I've seen you in civilian clothes." Clearly Fred married in a last minute rush before heading off to war. Later on, Fred's wife picks up another "ex serviceman" named Cliff, and goes out on a date. This is the scene where the true character in her comes out, telling Fred she's "getting a divorce." After packing his things and leaving his parents, they go through all of his numerous military awards. The pride and admiration are evident in both their faces as his father reads aloud, weeping over his son's accomplishments in the war. As if looking for some kind of closure, Fred goes to a huge army field full of bomber planes, wandering and reading the nose art on the machines. Fred's character is haunted, but it is in this same scene where he seems to find himself again. There is a scene later between Fred and Homer, where Fred loses his job. As they walk down the street, Fred tells Homer point blank to "go home to Wilma and marry her." There was a big connection between the two men from the war, and even though they didn't know each other until they came home, the men were closer to each other than they were to their life long friends and families. Later, there is a scene in the kitchen between Homer and Wilma where the two characters are finally honest with one another. Wilma's parents are encouraging her to leave town, but she wants to stay with Homer. He tries to pretend like he doesn't care and Wilma finally puts the question: "do you want me to forget about you?" Homer doesn't want Wilma to have to deal with all the psychological baggage he is faced with by bit having hands to button up his pajamas. Much to his surprise, Wilma immediately steps forward to help him. Homer wants her to see him at his most vulnerable time, when he takes his prosthetics off and can't even open the door for himself. But Wilma tells him "I love you Homer, and I am never going to leave you." At this point the audience can see just how people were forced to cope with the issues that military men came home with after the war. It is finally in this scene where Homer hugs Wilma, returning her affections for the first time and admitting to her th...