A Heartwarming Tale That's Filled With Love

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2004)

As much as I love the cinema and all the gossip that comes with the cinema, I must confess that I had never seen It's a Wonderful Life until just recently. That's shocking for me because I love movies so much and I'm a big fan of the classics. I had heard that the film was a Christmas classic and one of the most heartwarming films ever made and I must say that everything that people say about this masterpiece is absolutely true. It's a Wonderful Life is filled with so many great things that one cannot feel humbled to be watching such a brilliant film. First of all, Jimmy Stewart's performance is one of the best ever given in the history of cinema. His portrayal of a broken-down loan officer named George Bailey is profound and deeply moving. He captures the essence of the character's personality and makes the audience literally weep for this man. The character of George Bailey is written as if he was the nicest and most generous person you could ever meet in your lifetime. And yet for some reason he is never able to catch a break and every stroke of luck that he receives just vanishes into thin air. Jimmy Stewart is perfect for that part because it seems as if he is just the sweetest guy you could ever meet in your lifetime and to witness him being swallowed into an inescapable black hole of bad luck is heart-wrenching and sorrowful. We feel sorry for George Bailey because we know how great a man he is. So when Uncle Billy misplaces that $8,000 deposit and George is literally petrified of what could happen to him, he loses his mind and contemplates suicide. Without the assistance of George's guardian angel named Clarence (who is only a second-class angel because he doesn't have his wings), George would never have realized just how great a person he really is and how wonderful a life he has. Jimmy Stewart's performance is richly detailed and he plays the nice-guy level so perfectly in this film that it makes the audience cry at the very end of the film. Frank Capra's direction of the film is flawless as always. He uses many layers of film-making to tell us this imaginative story and creates a masterful work of art. There are terrific supporting performances from Donna Reed as George's wife, Mary and especially from Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Potter. Barrymore is perfect in this film as the villainous Mr. Potter who controls everything in Bedford Falls except for the Bailey Bank & Loan. The scenes with Barrymore and Stewart are absolutely unforgettable and you love to see Potter suffer at the end of the film because he is indeed the meanest man you could ever meet in your life. The writing is masterful and imaginative and gives the film its heartbeat. It tells the story of a man who deserves to be rewarded in life but instead stands aside and cares for the welfare of others. He doesn't realize that his life is worth something until the very end of the film when everyone in Bedford Falls (except Mr. Potter) bails him out of his problem. It is then that he realizes that his ship has come in and he is now being rewarded for all the good deeds he has done. The film is inspirational and makes us realize that we should always have hope because without hope, we can never be able to realize just how wonderful life can truly be. "No man is a failure who has friends" That is the basic moral of It's a Wonderful Life and it teaches us that you don't need money to be happy. The film is not necessarily a Christmas movie but it still preaches the ideology of the holiday and that is what characterizes it as a Christmas film. Indeed, it is perhaps the greatest Christmas movie of all time and one of the best films ever made in my opinion. Thank You Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart for giving us this masterpiece of the cinema.
Lenny's Grade: A+