Produced during WWII by the British Ministry of Information, BACK TO NORMAL examines the plight of those wounded in combat and shows the road to recovery, with a special emphasis on artificial limbs.
The film starts in 1943 with the repatriation of prisoners of war in the UK aboard three ships, including the Empress of Russia and the Atlantis. Men from these ships will later be seen in the Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton, being fitted with prosthetics (5:00 mark).
At mark 0:55, we have arriving ex-POWs in Britain. At mark 01:30, we have a World War II wounded veteran, speaking a year after he returned from the war. At mark 2:00, we have a woman who lost her leg during the Blitz, narrating her situation at home in the wake of the injury. At mark 3:40, we have a young couple telling the stories also of how they’ve improved so much from their wounds. At mark 4:50, we have wounded veterans with crutches all going to a government hospital and they are been upgraded fixed up with artificial limbs. These have improved their lives and day to day activities.
Here at mark 5:36, we have a woman at her shop, there’s hardly anything she can’t do. At mark 5:56, we have a letter deliverer who lost his leg he’s been doing the work for 20 years. At mark 6:12, we have Jock Riston who has been working for more than 20 years and lost his leg in the war, now he can operate machine after been upgraded. Here at mark 06:23, We also have June Crondon who was only eleven years old when she lost her legs but has been playing games like any other normal girl and she also skate after been given artificial limbs. At mark 6:50, we have the artificial legs; it has a joint which can be lock or fixed. At 7:17, this boy lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, but he has a job in the garage now and can do everything that is required of him. At mark 7:21, we have electrician who was wounded in Libya and was nearly dead for four days before the doctor could reach him. Before the war, he was a laborer and then he joined the army, he’s become a skilled workman. He can still drive a lorry. At mark 7:55, we have the wounded veteran still enjoying his life, playing tennis at his leisure and little June still playing around. You can see how things have gotten back to normal by using artificial legs.
At mark 8:50, we have a man also speaking about artificial arm. At 9:22, we have a man without his right arm and he still copes with his artificial arm doing his wash, shave, lace his shoes, knot his tie and can still do anything. At mark 10:47, we have an engineer with different tools on his wounded arm, also an architect. Here’s a man who’s taken up carpentry at mark 11:18, who lost his arm less than two years ago with some detonators exploding accidentally. Before the war, he was a driver, carpentry was completely new to him but he tackled it and succeeded. Metal beating is also a job that can be done quite easily by a forearm case and there’s no time in changing tools. At mark 11:50 we have examples of amputations done below the elbow. The elbow joint can still be healed and it makes upraise of the arm very simple but when the amputation is done above the elbow, it makes the upright to the limb a bit difficult and shoulders have to be broader for use. The arms can be easily controlled and can be used for grasping and holding. A little practice in this and there can be many jobs performed with absolute efficiency as we have at 12:55. At mark 13:03, we also have a painter who has been fixed up. When the job is all up for the day well these guys engage in their fancy, golf, tennis, snooker, table tennis or some hard works in the garden.
All these men can be helped through different government hospitals and return to their places and communities, but in the end the responsibility to rise is with the community. They have to accept them, to judge them not by their disabilities but by their durabilities.
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