it's a good movie

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2012)

I just saw IAWL for the first time last night. While it's not the best movie I have ever seen, it is very good and worth watching at least once. It is allegorical and thus shouldn't be held to exacting standards, as some reviews have done, in my opinion. The movie gets you to think about how your life impacts others and how we should treat one another better. For that I think it succeeds quite nicely. I think Jimmy Stewart did an excellent job of portraying George Bailey. He is fundamentally a good person, but like all of us, is given to bouts of anger and emotion, and lashes out against the people he loves. He quickly realizes his errors and apologizes for them. He is frustrated by his responsibilities and obligations intruding on his dreams, but he does the right thing in the end. We can all related to this and learn a few things by his example.