Return of the Hero

Rating: 9/10 (7 February 2006)

I have watched this movie several times and its impact does not lessen with each viewing. I believe this film, told through the lives of three returning servicemen after World War II, encapsulates the fears and hopes of all such men who returned home to find their lives changed forever.
For me the defining moments are the scenes where Fred Derry's father reads out the citations that his son has received for the medals won in air operations over Germany,a great honour but useless in peacetime, and where Fred himself is sitting in the nose of the derelict B-17 quite literally at the crossroads in his life, knowing that he cannot return to the glory days and the future appears to hold nothing for him.
Most returnees adapted to new ways, new jobs and in some cases (as in the film) new relationships. Sadly some did not, and their wartime experiences would for them be the Best Years of Their Lives.