Coming Home

Rating: Null/10 (17 November 2017)

Readjusting to civilian life proves challenging for three World War II veterans in this sombre drama from William Wyler. Clocking in at close to three hours, the film has received some criticism about its length, but the ample runtime allows the film to properly flesh out all three protagonists and the camaraderie that develops between them as they meet while sharing a flight back to the same hometown. Fredric March won an Oscar for his portrayal of a banker unable to instantly return to being the shrewd businessman that his colleagues expect of him. Dana Andrews was not Oscar nominated but is equally as effective as a pilot haunted by nightmares of war and vexed by a selfish wife who believes that he could just "snap out of it" if he really wanted to. The best performance comes from Harold Russell though, a nonprofessional actor who really did lose his hands during the war. There is a truly heartfelt moment when he smashes a glass window and the film handles his uncertainty over whether his fiancÃ©e really still loves him very well. At times, the movie edges into melodramatic territory with Hugo Friedhofer's overbearing score no help, but it flows pretty smoothly in general. There also is a lot to like about how Wyler sets the film entirely in the aftermath of the war and yet manages to convey just how much each man is changed by his experiences.