Running head: THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES

The Best Years of Our Lives Film Analysis

Name

Institution
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The Best Years of Our Lives Film Analysis

Films are essential tools in communicating the issues that face humanity every day. In

fact, we as human beings use these films to communicate, caution, remind and store historical

moments which affect our lives. To highlight the fundamental roles that films play, this paper

will analyze a film by Samuel Goldwyn known as The Best Years of Our Lives. The film was

directed by William Wyler, who had a wealth of experience from his involvement with the Air

Force in the war. Goldwyn produced this film in 1946, basing it on the traumatic adjustments

that veterans of World War 2 had to undergo in order to be assimilated back into the society

(Goldwyn, 2017).

The film features the adjustment struggles underwent by three veteran servicemen by the

names Homer Parrish, Fred Derry and Al Stephenson. The three veterans came back to the same

home town. Stephenson is featured as an army veteran who is the oldest in his group of

returnees, having to battle with alcoholism, often troubling his wife Milly who is loyal to him

(Goldwyn, 2017). Parrish is a sailor and a former football star, whose life after war gets murkier

since he has lost both of his hands and issues arise between him and his girlfriend Wilma. Lastly,

Derry whose role in the war was that of a Bombardier finds himself in a love triangle where his

wife Marie is a party girl, but he is also in a love relationship with Peggy who is Stephenson’s

daughter.

Circumstances Surrounding the Production of the Film

This film is produced during the time most of the return-home war veterans were faced

with difficulties adjusting back to the society. In fact, the title of this film was understood in two
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dimensions. The first dimension was that of the better lies these servicemen experienced while

they lived I unison and cared for each other in the war as opposed to the psychological torture

and rejection they faced on returning home. The second dimension entails the better lives they

used to lead when they had not joined the forces and sent to the war. Someone like Parrish had a

great life as a football star, physically able and thus thought it was a prudent decision to fight for

his country only to come back having lost both of his hands. Wyler used these three veterans to

depict the extent to which other veterans had to battle with deep anxieties, despairs and gnawing

tensions (Gerber, 1994).

Many Americans who perceived the veterans as rough ex-militants began to understand

the lives these service men underwent in their bid to fight for their nations. They began

understanding the terrible loneliness the soldiers underwent when their self-esteem was hurt on

finding their wives or fiancées married to other men or pregnant, lack of employability qualities

when they sought for work and trauma when they had various mental and physical scars. The

film portrays such moments and images honestly and sensitively, especially when Parrish’s

mother sees her son’s mechanical hands.

A pronounced problem facing families and communities from which these veterans were

coming back home was the problem of assimilating them into their activities. During this era

known as the baby boom era, most of the veterans came back home impregnating their wives and

thus had to find employment opportunities to cater for the needs of their young families. In the

film, we find Fred, one of the young veterans being emotionally affected such that he wishes to

go back home and get access to alcohol rather than getting happy that he was to find his beautiful

young wife. Just like many other veterans, once he gets back home, Fred has problems securing a

job due to skill mismatch.

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Although members of the armed forces underwent training before being engaged in the

war, the skills taught in the army were hard to transfer or apply in the labor market. Additionally,

the film portrayed the problem of so many returning officers who were fighting for the available

opportunities in the unskilled and semi-skilled employment opportunities. Fred, in this case,

should have been a celebrated hero but eventually, we find him working in a job where he

destroys the remains of planes which there before he used as a bombardier. The setbacks in his

life force her wife who loves partying to have affairs outside their marriage since she finds life

without money quite unsatisfying. Living a life of a wounded man, Fred finds love in Peggy who

is his fellow veteran’s daughter (Goldwyn, 2017). During this period when veterans were getting

back home, divorces were many, and it is not a shock when Peggy boldly announces to her

parents that she intends to cause a divorce between Fred and his wife. This kind of infidelity was

a contrast to the previous years until the Veterans came back home with a different set of

behaviors. This was reminiscent of the moral issues associated with the veterans during these

times, most of them being accused of immoral behaviors such as rape.

Reflection on American Interests, Values and Concerns

In most instances, we find that filmmakers spend some time before writing about a war in

which the public have depicted contempt against. In the case of The Best Years of Our Lives,

Wyler managed to produce one of the most honored films that reflect the lives of the returning

veterans of World War 2. Americans found this movie quite instrumental since it was a

representation of an important war in their history, a war that America won. During this period,

there were various economic, political and social changes facing America and the world at large

(Van Ells, 2001). It was during this period also that major agreements were signed such as the

Bretton Woods Agreement. This agreement was established on July 22, 1944, whose main
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purpose was to manage both monetary and exchange systems. It was in this agreement that

currencies were pegged to gold prices and the reserve currency agreed to be the U.S. dollar (Van

Ells, 2001).

The Bretton Woods Agreement played a significant role in the valuation of gold, the

creation of the IMF as well as the valuation of the foreign exchange rate with the dollar as the

base currency. Such agreements had to be made as first as possible since the American ruling

elites had perceived a possible international financial crisis following the aftermaths of the war

(Van Ells, 2001). These rulers were worried about the market for their products and thus sought

ways to achieve monetary stability. Among nations that were heavily affected by the war

included Japan, German, and France among other European nations which served as ready

markets for American commodities. Additionally, the labor market during this period was faced

by a number of strike waves, followed by the onset of Cold War threats (Clapton, 2015).

Therefore, the returning veterans were coming home to a whole lot of socially and economically

affected society, where even employment opportunities were minimal.

Also known as the American recovery plan, the Marshall Plan was also executed during

this period, depicting the worries Americans were faced with following the Second World War

(Van Ells, 2001). This plan according to various economic analysts was announced by George C.

Marshall who was the American Secretary of State with the aim of sparking Europe’s economic

recovery so that they could purchase American’s capital goods. Between 1948 and 1951, Europe

received over $13 billion from America (Van Ells, 2001). The film thus presents various

questions regarding the plausibility of the American economy owing to the tensions and realism

presented by the director, although most of the answers could be tied to the social reformism

ideals that President Roosevelt had previously introduced. Major changes in the economic and
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political structures were required to salvage the nation from an economic recession. Worries

were also evident from the onset of the cold war since Russia was seen to attack some of the

steps taken by America to incorporate Europe in its trade plans.

During the time that this film was made, capitalism was high with most of the Americans

depicting hunger for money irrespective of the conditions they gained such money. We find that

Parrish after returning home to his parent’s home he is offered a job by his father as a

salesperson (Van Ells, 2001). The troubling fact is that his father placed him in that position

since he knew that veterans who had various disabilities from war often were accorded sympathy

by the citizens and often closed many deals. It was heartbreaking when Parrish had to live with

the fact that he had to sell himself as an object and his father did not care about his feeling as

long as he made money out his condition. On the other hand, we find Stephenson who had

secured a banking job as a loans manager getting in trouble with his boss when he used his skills

of learning someone’s ability and will to offer a loan without collateral (Hoagwood, 2014). His

boss was angry with him and told him never to offer a loan without collateral. This is a clear

depiction of the profit driven society as well as the coldness such a money driven society

harbored.

Regardless of the valuable skills that the veterans had learned during the war, the society

was not ready to absorb them. During the war, these veterans operated as a team and teamwork

was ideal for the successful completion of various assignments (Gerber, 1994). On the contrary,

when these veterans came back home, they met a society that had embraced individualism rather

than caring about one another through upholding of morals and humane values.
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Eventually, we find that The Best Years of Our Lives is a film that communicated the

issues that were facing America and the veterans on the Second World War within the context it

was created. The directors of the film use various techniques to depict the extent of the issues

facing these veterans such as alcoholism, use of metaphors, the use of irony to show the contrast

of what the veterans expected and what they faced after returning among other styles. More so,

the issues of unemployment are related to the era America was coming from where President

Roosevelt had adopted a social reformist approach. The cold culture cultivated by capitalism is

also evident where individualism creates a divide between social morals and caring for other

people’s feelings as evident in the case of the sailor and his father. Ultimately, it is integral to

claim that the film is a profound representation of the plight of the veterans, also highlighting the

social, economic and political issues facing the America and world at large during the post war

period.
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References

Gerber, D. (1994). Heroes and Misfits: The Troubled Social Reintegration of Disabled Veterans

in "The Best Years of Our Lives". American Quarterly, 46(4), 545.

http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2713383

Goldwyn, S. (1946). The Best Years Of Our Lives 1946 - full movie. YouTube. Retrieved 7

September 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYlUG12JJoE

Clapton, R. (2015). The best years of our lives. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Van Ells, M. (2001).  To Hear Only Thunder Again: America's World War II Veterans Come

Home. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books.

Hoagwood, T. (2014). Multiple makers: The Best Years of Our Lives. Journal Of Adaptation In

Film & Performance, 7(1), 9-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jafp.7.1.9_1