Timeless

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2005)

My ex would coin the term. Timeless she would call it. Yes, I would have to agree with her on this one. I'm jaded, however, being so much older than when I first saw the film with wide-eyed wonder. But you have to look at the film from non-jaded eyes, from the perspective of freshness, and just observe the IDEAS as they are presented to you in the story, in the pictures, in the details. Yes, it's GEORGE's story, but it's REALLY everyman's story, and that's why my ex's idea of timelessness keeps coming back, every time I watch It's A Wonderful Life. Capra's themes come back to haunt us, much like the haunting play Our Town, where the young dead wife gets a chance to re-live one day, one easy day in the life of a 12-year old. Here, we see what life would be like without George. We all suffer our own existence, yet like George with his own personal angel, we all have our little angels ringing bells reminding us that we have purpose in our suffering. In It's a Wonderful Life, we get to see that George's simple purpose, in his small town Savings and Loan, is a kind of microcosm of the greater good, a greater good that is possible in all of mankind. This greater good and George's discovery of that greater good in himself is why the film is timeless. It's because we wonder if we have the potential to find that greater good in ourselves. Of course, then we step on the cat, or open the wrong end of the popcorn, spilling it all over the rug...