The movie, The Best Years of Our Lives, illustrates the struggles and hardships that servicemen faced when returning home from war. All returning from service in World War II Al Stevenson, Fred Derry, and Homer Parrish all struggle in adapting to civilian life. Al’s character struggles with adapting in society and begins drinking heavily in an effort to hide his discomfort. Although a captain during the war, Fred has no skills and returns to work selling sodas, straining his marriage with Marie. Injured in the war, Homer had lost both arms to a fire and is ashamed and distances himself from family, including his fiancée Wilma. While tough to watch at some points the films use of the three characters shows only a few of the hardships faced by returning servicemen after the war. …show more content…
The struggles that Al, Fred, and Homer went through after such a traumatic war sat heavily on my heart as I watched the movie. In class we spoke about how many servicemen had difficulty in transition into the civilian lifestyle and I think that this movie accurately depicts the circumstances and mindset of those coming back. Using Al as an example the film demonstrated how many returning men used alcohol and other substances to overcome their stress and discomfort. The character Fred was used to show the strains on relationships and how with so many men coming home the available jobs were limited and for those without skills had an even harder time finding a place to work. The war had injured many men and the film use of Homer’s character served as a prime example of the shame, pain, and discomfort of those returning with injuries. While many men returning from the war during this times faced many struggles, I believe that the film used its interesting plot and characters to show that these struggles didn’t only effect those of World War II but even those fighting in our world
Charley came into war excited, ready to go. He was so young he didn't think anything could be so bad. Once he got to Fort Snelling the excitement wore off and he became bored. The war was bad, he was one of the youngest so he had the most stress. Everywhere Charley looked there were bodies dropping, He never knew if he was safe or not. Charley tried to stay away from guns or any other weapons.
This new perspective makes them realize how lucky they were not to be mortally wounded. Another cause of change in the men besides the battles, results from seeing friends in the hospital. The first display of this sorrow is Kemmerich’s death. He was a good friend to all the men, especially Paul. When the men see him lying in his bed about to die, they feel terrible. Because they feel this way, they tell Kemmerich that he is going to be okay. The hospital scene with Kemmerich dying is meaningful and touching to the readers, because it too shows a change in the men. This change shows the hate and anguish of the battlegrounds, contrasted with compassion towards a close friend who is in need. This scene also lets the reader know how many people received injuries each day. When Paul goes to tell the doctor that Kemmerich The doctors response was that he had already amputated five legs that same day. The reader sees why when one person dies, it really does not mean anything to the doctors, except a free bed. This scene, plus the others which take place in the hospital, shows change in the way that men pull together when someone is in need. The hospital scenes also show that men are so accustomed to death, they know when someone is going to die, and can tell the degree of an injury when it happens. There is a major change in the men in this novel. At first, they are excited to join the army in order to help their country. After they see the truth about war, they learn very important assets of life such as death, destruction, and suffering. These emotions are learned in places like training camp, battles, and deal with death, which is very important to one’s life. & nbsp;
Towards the end of the story I kind of felt just as the soldiers did, weighed down and dead tired. The second half of the story leaned toward the emotional burdens the soldiers went through besides the physical quantities.
In its best moments, the movie is a strong, anti-war documentary. It has truly moving moments of bereaved loved ones, mangled bodies in the streets, incredulous soldiers in Iraq, angry Iraqis and innocent teenagers being manipulated into enlisting. In this way, the movie presents a version of the war on Iraq that isn't shown much in the media. It improves our understanding of the war by giving it a human face.
Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...
...often times tragic and can ruin the lives of those who fight. The effects of war can last for years, possibly even for the rest of the soldiers life and can also have an effect on those in the lives of the soldier as well. Soldiers carry the memories of things they saw and did during war with them as they try and regain their former lives once the war is over, which is often a difficult task. O’Brien gives his readers some insight into what goes on in the mind of a soldier during combat and long after coming home.
Brian Turner's "The Hurt Locker" captures his personal and painful experiences during his time spent in war and furthermore, express the tragic events he witnessed. Brian Turner's poem is miraculously able to gather multiple first hand accounts of tragic, gory, and devastating moments inside a war zone and project them on to a piece of paper for all to read. He allows the audience of his work to partially understand what hell he himself and all combat veterans have endured. Although heartbreaking, it is a privilege to be taken inside "The Hurt Locker" of a man who saw too many things that should not ever be witnessed by anybody. Turner's words bring to life what many have buried deep inside them which subsequently is one of the major underlying problems facing combat veterans today. Reading this poem, I could not help but wonder what the long term effects of war are on a human being, if it is worth the pain, and how does a combat veteran function properly in a society that is unfamiliar with their experiences?
...nd bloodshed. Women gave a reason to go to war, a reason to come back from the war, and oddly, a reason to want to return to the war. The men were in a fraternity of life, and with no women around for so long they began to rely on themselves, and no longer had the needs that were provided them by women. They wanted to play in the jungle with their friends, only this time with no guns. They missed the life that they spent together eating rations and swapping stories. When they went home they were veterans, like the old men of the World Wars. If they stayed, they were still heroes, warriors, and victims. They still loved deeply the women at home, because they had no reason to fight or bicker, or possibly realize that the women they assumed would be waiting for them had changed in that time. The men were torn between love of women, and the love of brotherhood.
The first thing about this film that caught my eye from a sociological perspective is that the society in the film is not depicted as a “perfect society” as most films do, instead it shows the real conflicts that society had back then with certain subjects. The film shows us the prejudices, and misconceptions that people had about things like sex, and homosexuality at the time.
...ust deal with similar pains. Through the authors of these stories, we gain a better sense of what soldiers go through and the connection war has on the psyche of these men. While it is true, and known, that the Vietnam War was bloody and many soldiers died in vain, it is often forgotten what occurred to those who returned home. We overlook what became of those men and of the pain they, and their families, were left coping with. Some were left with physical scars, a constant reminder of a horrible time in their lives, while some were left with emotional, and mental, scarring. The universal fact found in all soldiers is the dramatic transformation they all undergo. No longer do any of these men have a chance to create their own identity, or continue with the aspirations they once held as young men. They become, and will forever be, soldiers of the Vietnam War.
This movie was inspiring and encouraging to anyone who is struggling with something. Overcoming his controversies in life became the main point of the movie. Knowing that this movie was based upon a true story inspires the people even more.
...oung American men had to endure from the time that they had joined back in their boot camp days, and the brutality of war that showed them no mercy. To me the importance of the movie was to show what truly went on over in Vietnam through the eyes of a soldiers eyes of what happened, as the film created a very disturbing yet a real picture of The Vietnam War.
The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in the war that he wrote the book “The Things They Carried,” that showed how important the role of story telling was to soldiers. The role of stories was important because it gave them an outlet and that outlet was needed both inside and outside the war in order to keep their metal state in check.
...though people believe that, those on the home front have it just as a bad as the soldiers, because they have to deal with the responsibilities of their husbands, there is nothing that can compare to what these men have gone through. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope that they would soon return home, most men came to grips with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The biggest tragedy that follows the war is not the number of deaths and the damages done, it is the broken mindset derives from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the hardships of being out at war and the consequences, ideologies, and lifestyles that develop from it.
The timing of this film was a significant factor in the story line. In the middle of the Great Depression unemployment and poverty were a major