Smile to life and life will smile to you ...

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2012)

"It's a Wonderful Life" speaks the most universal truths about the kind of values humanity should stand for to make life that wonderful. It's Frank Capra's Christmas gift to Cinema and one of the all-time greatest classics.
Indeed, what we use to define as 'classics' in the Cinematic Dictionary is probably the kind of movies that look and sound familiar to movie fans BEFORE the first viewing. And for me, the great classics as those we're familiar with before watching them and without this parameter affecting the magic of the first experience. We know that Marion Crane will be murdered; that Michael Corleone will become the Don, and that George Bailey will reunite with his family but it NEVER affects the enjoyment.
I've seen enough parodies from "Simpsons" episodes or TV Christmas specials to know the very basis of Frank Capra's immortal classic, I even remember James Stewart's final wink from the movie "Look Who's Talking", and I was so aware of the film's plot that the first viewing probably consisted on spotting all the references I had. Not that it ruined the whole experience though but I didn't really grasp the inner greatness of the film until the second viewing, and now I do. Yes, it's very positive, very "good-vibrations inducing", something that definitely justifies its top spot on AFI's 100 Most Inspirational list, but there is more to that. There is more.
You see, I've always thought the film to be a Christmas story and nothing else, expecting a 'message'; an obligatory happy ending established by the Family reunion, I expected that and well, I got it. BUT it's surprising how dark it really gets for a Christmas film and even by today's standards, 2000's TV specials can't elevate themselves to this gutsy change of tone. And James Stewart carries it quite spectacularly in "It's a Wonderful Life", powerfully transcending the initial atmosphere of the film. I would never have expected such genuine and authentic displays of sheer anger and Stewart is really scary here. I recall one line in Ebert's review where he regretted the colorization of the film precisely because it didn't visually fit these dark undertones. I can't imagine myself watching the film in color either.
And Stewart's anger is very significant, because it illustrates the overall sentiment conveyed by his character, George Bailey, toward his life. The man considers himself a failure because he didn't fulfill all his dreams of travels and explorations. Sure, all his achievements helped the community, but never did he expect to stay in his modest natal hometown, Belford Falls. Bailey exemplifies the notion of being victim of circumstances, something I could relate to who spends my whole time dreaming of what I wish to do, instead of appreciating what I already did. Seriously, could it be more frustrating than dreaming of the world and be forced to live in a dull small town? Logically, Bailey becomes a bitter man with the eyes so turned to the future that he can't turn his back and consider the extent of his achievements and his popularity.
George Bailey reminded of one of my friends' sayings: "we don't spend our lives writing the future, but writing the past" It's even truer for Bailey whose past (understand: achievement) helped people to build their future. Following the death of his father, he took over the "Loan and Building" affair and played a significant role in the lives of all the people of Belford Falls by selling houses lower than the prices they would normally rent it, thus providing them the most precious thing in America: a land, a home, with prices low enough to be able to sustain to the other obligations. He naturally made himself an enemy through Lionel Barrymore as the infamous half-tyrant half-tycoon Mr. Potter, a fitting 'Capraesque' villain as the morally corrupted rich man who tyrannizes and despises little people. (Interestingly, both Bailey and Potter are in AFI's Top 10 Heroes and Villains)
Frank Capra is one of the few directors whose style became instantly identifiable and "It's a Wonderful Life" is the opportunity to culminate his own standards but not with the usual emotional bias this time. Here it's Bailey, the very protagonist of the film who takes distance from the little people, too real, too down-to-earth while he is a man who dreams, who writes the future in big, bold letters. This time, the enemy is not just the rich, the powerful, the corrupted, but the hero's inner demons, unknowingly celebrating Capra's humanistic vision: a world of solidarity, brotherhood, goodness and compassion. It's also, cinematically-speaking, the incarnation of a lost era through these characters forever graved in our memories, Mary Bailey (Donna Reed), Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell), Clarence (Henry Travers) and all these unforgettable faces.
"It's a Wonderful Life" is the coming to realization of a man that he's better than what he thinks he is, and whose achievements speak something more important about him than his dreams. The trick was to allow him to see what his life would've been hadn't he be born: a frightening alternate reality (just noticed where "Back to the Future II" took its inspiration from). This little spice of fantasy conducts the atmosphere of the climax. And its darkness is perfect because the scarier it'll get, the more convinced Bailey will be. And he finally learns it the 'hard way' but this is the fate of all Capra's heroes, they all struggle, they're all licked and desperate before triumphing. Why so hard? Why the harder it is, the louder the 'YAAY' will be and so will the 'Merry Christmas' shouted while George Bailey is running out of joy, probably the most communicative of Cinema's history.
And we wouldn't have had one of the truly happiest happy endings of cinema's history, immortalized by the sight of James Stewart smiling, with little Zuzu, Mary and a thought for his guardian angel.