Realism

This movie, even within the style and content limitations of 1944, has some very realistic and truthful aspects.

Two people who consider themselves damaged, who are concerned about whether they can still contribute to society, find one another, and each contributes to healing the other. He feels compelled to trust her, and opens up, she hides the source of her self-doubt, and we watch her struggle with that.

It's nice to see PTSD dealt with in a film. It's also nice to see the honesty of his recovery not being linear -- after he faces up to the dog, and she comments on how he has improved, he has a horrible flashback, which is pretty realistically portrayed.

I'm trying to think of other WWII and post-WWII films, made at that time or shortly after, that deal with the fact that soldiers didn't have it as easy as some people now think, during leaves and after that war.

This film (briefly, in the New Year's Eve party scene), Kiss Them for Me, and The Sky's the Limit all deal with the idiocy of politicians or industrialists trying to fit soldiers into a stereotyped niche, make an unwanted fuss over them as heroes, and get their opinion or endorsement.

Besides this film, The Best Years of our Lives and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit deal with some emotional and mental repercussions of war. I can't remember if The Men shows someone with PTSD or only focuses on physical disability.