pick up where we left off? after everything that we have seen and learned. the cost of war is what is communicated in "the best years of our lives" better than any war movie i've ever seen. >> these guys are just trying to get home. >> this is my street. >> they never knew each other before the war, but they all meet and they become fast friends. and their lives start to really interconnect as they start to work out the huge damage that the war causes our emotional core. >> the film was made right after the war, and as the camera cranes up you see this vast world war ii graveyard of old hulks, no digital photography or matte work. >> that phenomenonal scene when dana andrews is sitting in the junked plane reliving his missions as a bombardier, it communicates that oppressive weight of the experience, of putting your life on hold and going off and maybe coming back, maybe not coming back at all. or maybe coming back with no hands. >> i've learned how to take this harness off. >> the fact that they cast harold russell, a guy who lost