Lives Is a 1946 Drama

¶ … lives" is a 1946 drama film directed by William Wyler. The movie gives an entertaining insight to the situation of war veterans after a Second World War presenting it into various different stories. The paper analyses the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives" While discussing the major characters as well as, describing how the war affected their lives.

There are many characters that played different roles throughout the film. However, there were only three main characters in the movie that includes; Fred Derry, Homer Parrish, and Al Stephenson. The three characters meet one another in an airplane while flying back to their hometown, Boone city. Fred is the Air Force Captain, Homer who has lost his both hands in the war is a sailor and Al Stephenson is an army Sergeant. The three men while in the plane develop a bond yet, they came from different backgrounds. As the three alights at the airport, they both hire a taxi as they happily reminisce about their familiar locations. The three men get dropped one after the other. Homer being the first to be dropped by the driver, he is welcomed joyfully by his parents as well as, girlfriend Wilma; however it becomes hard for his mother to hide her heartbreak after seeing Homer's prosthetic hooks. Al is dropped after Homer, while he gets home; he is lovingly greeted by his wife Milly and the two children Peggy and Rob. Finally Fred gets home to see his wife Marie, father and stepmother; unfortunately he finds his wife has moved to stay in her own apartment.

After the three men reached their homes safely, they encounter different problems like fitting back to the society and their families as they make a living. They see life not going smoothly as they thought, because of their memories of the war, as well as their mental and physical legacies of it. The three men also get halted by the society members who never experienced the war directly. For example, Fred came across a person at his workplace questioning him the aspects of the war. This question infuriates Fred, where he decides to attack the man costing him his job at the end.

Effects of war on the characters

The movie focuses on the three main characters, Fred's, Homer's and Al's post war lives that tries to get them back on the track. The war has resulted to physical, mental, and economical depressions upon them. The Second World War and other effects resulted to economic depressions that were felt throughout the country. The war affected Fred's life in that it became so difficult for him to get a good job; in addition, he being only a soda jerk before the war does not help him at all. Fred is also affected with an issue of not fully supporting as well as, providing his wife with enough money for the lifestyle she used to, finding himself in a marriage that declines.

The second victim of the Second World War is Al Stephenson. Of the three men characters, Al is the only man who is married with two children. However, he is very happy when he joins his family back in the society; unfortunately it becomes so awkward for him finding it hard to communicate with them. He gets a hard time to socialize with the children hence immediately turns to taking alcohol. This is seen when he gets home and realizes how little he can talk to his children on the very first night and, instead start seeking the company of his fellow soldiers in the bar. This affects his whole family given that he heavily drinks all the night. On the other hand, the film also reveals other problems which tend to be very common to the former soldiers' alienation. Most of them felt unpleasant of being back in the social environment and could only get along with their fellow veterans.