Italian Neorealism, American Postwar Film, Shomin-geki and Satyajit Ray

I think that is natural that filmmakers all over the world wanted to portray reality before, during, and specially after the war, but at the same time, I think that is still more natural that people watching those films about life i their countries hated those films. As I've said before, people wanted a break and they expect that going to the cinema will help them doing that for at least an hour and a half; they didn't wanted to watch their miserable poor lives on the big screen. However, I think these films were necessary... someone need to express and show to the world what was happening, in these cases, in Italy, America, Japan and India.

It is really sad for me to see that even when a human being is capable of creating such beautiful and helpful things, at the same time, he can be so inhuman and destructive... that's war, that's postwar... we can't ignore it!

The Best Years of Our Lives is a film I saw by accident last summer (my mom and I just wanted to watch a short film and we pick this one from my father's shelf... it wasn't short at all, of course). I thought that the film was depressing (except for the rather optimistic ending)... but life in those days must have been really depressing for the soldiers trying to fit again in society. A great realistic masterpiece that must be seen by everyone at least once in their lifetime!

Pd. How contrasting is Japan, the arrogant massive killers of the WWII (one of the bunch, actually) produced some of the most humanistic and deep films of all.