The finest American movie ever made

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2006)

Jimmy Stewart doesn't merely act this role, as a sad, yet monumentally blessed man of the people. He almost SINGS it, due to his gift for vocal histrionics. This story of one man against the planetary tides of fate is an absolutely thrilling exposition of film excellence. Each centimeter of this movie is filled with Life. That is the sly double-meaning of this movie. I command you to find another movie its equal. This is a movie even the great philosopher Aristotle, and his Poetics, would love. All film-makers, and all film-lovers should fill their souls with this great achievement. It is the archetypal story of grandeur in plainness. But not too plain. It is a Deus Ex Machina, where a little itty bitty man, struggling against evil, is suddenly and magically healed, and yet, finds himself pushing the same rock up the same hill. The Gods have transformed his struggle into a spiritual triumph. Same Old Sisyphus, same old rock. This movie collapses and conflates a monumental struggle into a warm, and sappy and beautiful Christmas card. There will be a long time, if ever, that a movie ever accomplishes as much. I approach this movie the way a grasshopper appreciates a spider's web, once his leg is fatally caught. I cannot escape it. I marvel at the art it displays.