Rating: 82/100

AFI Top 100 #37

The spell has been lifted!

Chris and I finally bit the bullet and watched The Best Years of Our Lives. 

There are a myriad of reasons that we kept putting this film off since the end of last year. Yes, you read that right. It’s been over six months since we’ve watched an AFI movie… UGh (I’ll go more into the challenge in a minute). The length of the movie was the biggest hurdle. It’s a commitment, especially when a movie night starts later than normal. The topic wasn’t of interest to us either, not if it went in the direction that we thought it would. We should have known though. It’s on the AFI list for a reason. And our final hurdle, sometimes these older films just don’t age very well. 

But now we can continue on with the list! Watch us struggle to watch the next one too. 

Back to the AFI challenge. It’s nothing special or even official. When we first moved to Seattle, we didn’t know a soul which meant having nothing to do, so we decided to tackle the AFI’s top 100 movies of all time. We follow the 10th anniversary version and will supplement any movie from the other list when we’re done. Our rules are simple…. No skipping… no stopping halfway through…. No jumping around…. And no watching anything on the list before we get there. Chris might have already broken that last rule. I’ve learned to double check the list when he makes a movie suggestion. 

See, easy as pie. Now that I’m doing movie reviews, I’ll make sure to keep you all in the loop with our progress. Honestly, you’ll probably see most of them up here. Though don’t get your hopes up. Based on our current track record, we won’t be watching another movie on the list before next year. 

And when we get to the Lord of the Rings, do we watch the extended version? 

See, easy as pie and now that I’m doing movie reviews, I can keep you all in the loop on our progress. Though don’t get your hopes up. Based on our current rate, it’ll take us 12 years to make it through the whole list. 

So…. The Best Years of Our Lives. I have to say that it aged well. All the topics covered about the three soldiers are still relevant to today. Even things like PTSD, though they didn't have a name for it back then and I’m still shocked they knew to talk about it. Taboo topics like sucuide, affairs, and alcoholism were also addressed. All of it covered just two years after WWII ended. 

Granted, the acting is very late 40s but in a way that lends it a bit of charm. It’s a historic movie now, one steeped in realism. Especially when it comes to the actor who played Homer. I tried to figure out how they created his hands. Russell’s acting was rough at times, but his skill with the prosthetics made up for it. I figured he had to practice a lot to get his role right. And how did they make it seem so realistic? Then you get to the end and realize that nothing about his prosthetics is fake. Those things are very much real. Russell doesn’t have any hands. What a punch in the gut. It makes the point of the movie that much more impactful. 

I know I said the movie was long, it’s just south of three hours, but I never felt a second of the time. I was almost shocked when it was over. Nothing could have been cut out. Every moment played an integral role in the emotional impact, all leading up to the ending where I had a wave of feelings - because Peggy isn’t a home wrecker anymore. The Best Years of Our Lives deserved to sweet the awards like it did.

Happy Watching

Love Kait