It's a futile gesture to try and convince somebody that their reaction to a film or play is "wrong". So, I won't do that. We all come from different life's experiences, philosophies of life, and learned attitudes about life. Yet, it's too much for me not to, at least, respond to ccs-5's commentary:
He says, TBYOOL is rife with "heavy-handed moralism". Well, it is rife with moralism -- which, I find appropriate in a film "about" moral convictions (something virtually AWOL in most films made today). I don't see the "heavy-handed" presentation the OP sees, however. Perhaps, today, any story which assumes a "moral truth" (or, truths) about a culture's identity may seem heavy-handed automatically, especially considering the American culture today seems hopelessly unsure about any moral truth remaining within its increasingly morally ambiguous social fabric.
He says, the "plot lines are predictable". TBYOOL is a simple narrative telling dealing with the "normal people" of an era doing "normal things" and reacting, more or less, "normally" to things that have been done to them. Refreshing today, I think. I suppose, therefore, TBYOOL must plead guilty to a measure of "predictability". But, then again, the picture is, to a large extent, about the predictability, as well as the moral precepts, abiding in normal people during the time the film is set. No aliens, no car crashes, no wizards, no race issues, no homosexuality issues, etc. . . For some, that must make for an "excruciatingly long and boring" production. I venture to guess the OP is a deal younger than me.
He says, the film is "embarrassingly saccharine and/or hackneyed". Well, it is sentimental. Of course, sentimentality is no less a human condition than are cynicism, skepticism, a tendency toward literalism, etc. -- worthy of inclusion in a drama provided the sentimentality is "honest" sentimentality. If the sentimentality in TBYOOL isn't honest, the tears it brings to hilary's, farley's, and my eyes would not, I trust, come forth as easily as they do.
I think The Best Years of Our Lives is the best American motion picture ever made. . . Alas, I guess it takes all kinds to make a world.
reply
share
kbarada
10 years ago
Another thoughtfull and thought provoking post cwente2. In regards to the sentimentality of the movie, I thought it was absorbing. For those of us children of this "greatest generation" it gave me a lot of insight into just what our parents went through post world armed conflict.
Our parents gave us bits and pieces of their experiences, but it never seemed enough to paint the picture that TBYOOL does. You probably feel the same and get all sentimental when watching this, especially since our parents are mostly gone and there is no one left to tell their story. This movie will forever tell their story and convey the feelings, trials, and tribulations that they went through.
For these reasons, I agree it is one of the best if not the best American motion picture ever made. I would not expect younger folks to feel the same.
reply
share
wrfarley
10 years ago
There was sort of a bittersweet moment for my family a few years ago. My Dad passed away in 2002. He told us bits and pieces about his Army experiences during the war as a Tuskegee airman, and we, his children, listened, but in truth, the stories didn't really resonate. However, it all sunk in a couple of years after he died when my sister and her husband visited Alabama on a business trip. They decided to take a quick trip from Birmingham to Tuskegee and check out the Airman museum. No sooner had they entered the building that they were confronted with a wall sized photograph of the 50 or so pilots and ground crew. There, crouching front and center was my father in uniform. My sister was so flabbergasted she exhorted this to the museum's curator. He knew exactly who my father was. We knew he was a master sergeant and a mechanic who maintained the bombers, but we didn't know he was the go-to guy for the pilots. As the curator said, "He made the planes go."
Had my father lasted a couple more years, he would have been pleased as punch to know that he was remembered for his service long ago.
reply
share
LukeLovesFilm28
10 years ago
"Our parents gave us bits and pieces of their experiences, but it never seemed enough to paint the picture that TBYOOL does."
Of course not. Would you want your mother to open up to you about some horrible, traumatizing experience when she was raped? Would you want her to relive the horror of that experience?? That's what most people don't understand today. These men saw horrors in front of their own eyes that most of us can only dream about. We call those dreams, "Nightmares" and we usually try to put them behind us.
reply
share
kbarada
10 years ago
Luke loves films, I was referencing the experiences of getting back into civilian life after being in uniform and fighting in the war. I thought the movie was primarily portraying how it was like to get back into the workforce and reacquainted with one's wives, children, and sweethearts after being away at war for so long.
Where are you getting the idea that I would want my mother to open up about being raped?
reply
share
hilaryjrp
10 years ago
@cwente2, karanda, and wfarley--
I've spent the past five days reading comments while I made a major regional (lower 48) move, and--at least for now--the northern place to which I've relocated seems a trip back in a time machine. They still watch those old-fashioned things called DVDs!
Cwente's (et.al.) references to sentimentality being
no less a human condition than are cynicism, skepticism, a tendency toward literalism, etc. -- worthy of inclusion in a drama provided the sentimentality is "honest" sentimentality
is
truth. We older TBYOOL viewers
know it is true. It is a fact younger generations have to deny, I fear, in order not to go mad in the artificial world that our culture has created for them. They must live in denial in order to maintain the illusion that we are machines that just happen to excrete liquids and waste, and that were born to support technology.
The staggering accomplishment of the film the subject of this board is that it is
real. No one on this board coined the film studies' term "social realism."
reply
share
cwente2
10 years ago
hilary,
Yes. . . I'll sign that.
Personal request, though -- please don't apologize for possibly offending someone. Too much worrying today about what one says, from the heart, offending someone else. Anyone and everyone is offended in some way by anyone and everyone else's opinions, if they don't coincide with their own. (A comment which, no doubt, will offend somebody out there!)
Best, as always
reply
share
hilaryjrp
10 years ago
Cwente--
Yes, you're right, and I'm going to edit that post.
It's wrong to apologize for calling out the hard-heartedness of the twenty-first century. A ninety-year-old vet from my (former) town was interviewed after "Fury" was released last week. The television station asked him to review the film for the 6 o'clock news, but this gentleman politely declined. He said that while he appreciated the film, "we boys weren't tough to each other the way the movie showed. We were kind to each other."
I remember thinking, Holy crow, is that class, or what? A ninety-year-old given the chance to be on t.v. and get deserved attention to his opinion, damning with very faint praise a superstar's multi=million-dollar film. It was more important to him that "we weren't like that."
Thanks for setting me straight!
reply
share