I saw "The Best Years of Our Lives" without really knowing what to expect and must admit that I was blown away. It is one of those rare war films that manage to be profound without being preachy, and it is definitely the best film about the soldiers homecoming that I have seen. There are many great scenes, but my favourite is at the end with Dana Andrews inside the old plane and we hear all his memories and the source of his nightmares. Not only does Andrews do a stunning job here, but I also loved that we were not given a visual flashback, but are left to imagine the horrors he has been through.
And yes, I've seen Laura. As a direct result of loving "The Best Years.." actually. Now I find film noirs great fun, and really enjoyed the film - even if the solution to the plot was a bit strange.
there is a way in which they do not seem *as real* because they're not in color, so there's a distance between the viewer and the victims, IMO.
Hmm..yes, I see your point, and it is very interesting. For me b&w photos automatically attain this aura of historicity, in that I perceive a greater temporal distance between me and the motive than I would in a colour photo. Why this is I'm not sure.Maybe part of it is visual habit. We are used to history being depicted in b&w, and therefore connect this to an idea of the past and time lost. In any case the result is that I often find looking at colourphotos of WWII - particularly the kodachrome photos on the Library of Congress site - to be almost unreal. The colours are so strong and lush it feels like they could have been taken yesterday, and I have to remind myself that they are just as old as say Robert Capa's photos.
IIRC Susan Sontag said something in "On Photography" on how photographs create a new visual code and "now provide most of the knowledge people have about the look of the past and the reach of the present." Then again she also claimed that photos could numb you, which I'm not sure I agree with.
And yes, I've seen Laura. As a direct result of loving "The Best Years.." actually. Now I find film noirs great fun, and really enjoyed the film - even if the solution to the plot was a bit strange.
there is a way in which they do not seem *as real* because they're not in color, so there's a distance between the viewer and the victims, IMO.
Hmm..yes, I see your point, and it is very interesting. For me b&w photos automatically attain this aura of historicity, in that I perceive a greater temporal distance between me and the motive than I would in a colour photo. Why this is I'm not sure.Maybe part of it is visual habit. We are used to history being depicted in b&w, and therefore connect this to an idea of the past and time lost. In any case the result is that I often find looking at colourphotos of WWII - particularly the kodachrome photos on the Library of Congress site - to be almost unreal. The colours are so strong and lush it feels like they could have been taken yesterday, and I have to remind myself that they are just as old as say Robert Capa's photos.
IIRC Susan Sontag said something in "On Photography" on how photographs create a new visual code and "now provide most of the knowledge people have about the look of the past and the reach of the present." Then again she also claimed that photos could numb you, which I'm not sure I agree with.
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