The final’s MVP.

The most screen time is given to Peggy and her ill-advised relationship with Fred. It’s a romantic subplot that really didn’t need to be in the movie, and isn’t helped by a pretty clear age difference between the two actors.

The women in TBYOL also deserved better. Al’s wife Milly unquestionably supports her husband. Fred’s wife Marie is made to give up her job for a spouse who has no interest in working. Homer’s girlfriend Wilma is a little too..motherly.

And then there’s Al, who comes home to a happy family and an immediate promotion at his bank. His only dilemma is whether or not to give another veteran a loan, which he does with no consequence. The role inexplicably won Fredric March a Best Actor award for the movie’s weakest character.

Fred, a bomber, is shown to have nightmares about an operation gone wrong. But the movie never really digs further into his PTSD aside from one brief scene. He’s instead portrayed as incapable (and uninterested) in finding work and begins cheating on his wife with Al’s daughter Peggy.

The best scene in the movie shows Homer shooting target practice in his garage before freaking out at children watching him. His shame, both of his disability and of his actions, is a quality of acting TBYOL needed more of.

Homer, played by Harold Russell who really did lose both hands in the war, is the most compelling of the leads. He’s the youngest, a former star high school athlete who is adept with his prosthetics but also self conscious.

Three veterans return from war to various struggles, both real and suburban. Ranking Best Pictures is back with me and @jchidleyhill.bsky.social as we review 1946’s The Best Years of Our Lives. 🧵

The scene from Nelson, where FIFA has set up its public viewing for Canada-Switzerland.

Someone sent us a letter to the editor on Taylor Swift stationary about residents complaining about a bus station. Only in community news.

The sets, of course, are immaculate. We loved the two theatres, the musty bars, the dirty and claustrophobic streets. It feels lived in. The costumes are also imaginative. Especially love how Viola is dressed when she is pretending to be a man.

Well we lost that trade didn’t we.

Looking forward to several more years of this.

The CPKC Holiday Train came through Nelson tonight and dammit, the Barenaked Ladies were good.

This is the "statement" just put out by the BC Conservatives. Yes, it really does look like that.

Can we somehow speed up the heat death of the universe?

Cimarron does some things well. It makes excellent use of extras. The town feels like a big, lived-in place. The opening land rush scene is thrilling and well shot for its time. The plot also uses time jumps to effectively move things along.

Sabra is the long-suffering wife trope, albeit in an oddly feminist movie. She longs for civilized society. She starts a women’s club and builds up the newspaper after Yancey has abandoned the family, and is later made a congresswoman. But she never gives up her hate for Indigenous characters.

This is a deeply racist movie. It addresses race but gives no agency to Black and Indigenous characters. The Black servant Isaiah is a child with a stutter who speaks in a servile way. (Isaiah’s death scene however, when he meekly calls for help from an obvious Yancey, is touching and infuriating.)

The protagonist Yancey played by Richard Dix is driven to bring “civilization” to the land. He drags his wife Sabra and son Cim to the place, where he sets about starting a newspaper and building a city.

How racist can a movie be to win a Best Picture? Folks, let me introduce you to 1930’s Cimarron in the latest Ranking Best Pictures with @jchidleyhill.bsky.social and myself.

Taking a cue from the Oilers and opting out of this season early.

Go Jays!

Anyone else’s stream go down and won’t come back up? @sportsnetpr.bsky.social

I guess Sportsnet considers B.C. as Canadiens region.

You and I have had very different afternoons.

Tom’s primary love interest is Sophie, and we could not figure out why she was so enamoured with him. He sleeps around, has no ambition at all except to spend his adoptive father’s money, but the movie wants you to root for them.

Today in what did we just watch, Ranking Best Pictures with @jchidleyhill.bsky.social and this guy returns with 1963’s Tom Jones! 🧵

Also really appreciated this, because it provides an answer to something I’ve been struggling with recently in my own work.

B.C. Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma is speaking in Nelson at the opening of the $40-million Nelson Community Health Campus.