It's A Wonderful Life Review

 

        It’s been an interesting moment in time compared to last year. Year 2 is finally wrapping up with this experiment of me talking about movies. In case you’ve noticed that I barely do them, mostly updating them to Sunday. It was something where I watched different movies weekly and tell you guys how I feel about them. Just to put it out there, I’m not going anywhere. Priorities have shifted on my end that explains about my low input. Regardless, let’s end the year with a look at some holiday films. So here’s what I think of It’s A Wonderful Life. 

1. George Bailey

        The story is pretty interesting. It’s mostly about this man named George Bailey. We begin the movie with angels, they’re represented as galaxies or something at least tangible. Anyways, we see them notice an event that will happen to George and send his guardian angel to help. George from what we see throughout the film is a positive and humble person. 

        We see him grow up from a child to an adult in various points in time. Albeit from the angel’s point of view. Even stopping the film to discuss if they’re close to the important event. It threw me off since I thought that the movie was loading. Effective as it is, we see that George has made some decisions that has an impact on the town. 

        What I like is that although the film takes a while to reach the holiday, we get to see and understand just what kind of person George is. He has principles that make him endearing. Which is ironic since we see him running a family bank. The opposite of him is the curmudgeon Mr. Potter who’s a slime of a banker. George stands up to him as he is willing to help out the civilians in the town who need money. 

2. A Different Christmas Story

        This is a different kind of story just by how it’s told. It has a shade of “A Christmas Carol” where George is transported to a different reality and one where we see him as an honorable man. I believe that what makes it classic is that we see him as an amalgamation of the values of what the holiday is supposed to represent. 

        For instance, he is a good man and has an unshakeable will to help people. When we see him in his lowest, he’s desperate and is bitter in the situation that he’s in. It’s pretty shocking since you start to like the guy, but when he snaps you feel it. You feel bad because you want George to be happy and cheerful. It works since for anyone to really care about the character is to make him hurt. 

        I think it works because we see just how much of an impact he made for the various people including his brother. When he sees the different reality, people don’t know him and learns that the city he loves becomes a second rate Vegas. He feels humbled because he never could’ve imagine just how much good he has done. Not to be preachy but it’s relatable. No one considers just how big of an impact we can do or shape one person. 

3. How it Became a Classic

        It’s interesting how this film became a forgetful movie to an absolute gem of a classic. When it came out, it didn’t make enough money to be considered a hit. It was derided and received mixed reviews when it came out. When it became time to renew it before it became public domain, there was a clerical error that unintentionally made the movie part of the public domain. TV studios began to broadcast the movie around the holidays. Although they had to pay the royalties since the movie is based on a short story called "The Greatest Gift".

4. Overall

        It’s A Wonderful Life is a great holiday film and a rebound film for historical purposes. Through it’s broadcast on television, the film got introduced to a new audience and an appreciation for it grew. Some may have a cynical view on it just how much the holiday has morphed. Although it's a personification of what it should be about. Absolutely, the film is a classic.