Review of It's a Wonderful Life (1946) by Michael M — 19 Nov 2014

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is my favorite Christmas film. My other three (3) are: BAD SANTA, A CHRISTMAS CAROL (ALASTAIR SIM version) and NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION ...so I have my mix of funny and tear-jerkers. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is not only one of my favorite Christmas movies, but it's one of my favorite films period due to it's central message i.e. No One Is Born In Vain!! I watch it every Christmas ...and I get choked-up every Christmas when I watch it.

All of us, in our lives, experience downtimes, despressing times, hardtimes where like George Bailey (played perfectly by Jimmy Stewart aka the common man) think things and the people in our lives would be better-off if he weren't around i.e. if he were never born. This film illustrates that no matter how bad things get e.g. foreclosure (the possibility of), prison (the possibility of), death (in the family) that things will get better. It's just we cannot quit. We just have to keep on fighting and not let negativity grip us and bring us down into the darkness where we expect bad things to happen, therefore pushing us to be fulfillers of our own negative prophecies.

We all go about our day, just like George Bailey performing, what we perceive to be little things, kind gestures. This movie powerfully shows-us the impact these "little things", these gestures have on so people ...and if we were never around the terrible void it would leave in other people's lives. It also shows the tremendous chain reaction life's moments have on other moments, and how these moments affect so many people ...people we are not even cognizant of in our own lives. Such as, if George never lived his brother Peter would have died an early death because George would have not been around to save him which consequently would have caused Peter's military regiment to die in war because Peter Bailey wouldn't have been around to save them.

We all have purpose! Many times, it feels as though "Nothing ever goes right for me!" or "Everybody hates me/you!" or "There isn't meaning to anything I am doing!". But, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE powerfully depicts there is reason for us being here, and if we were not here an "awful hole" would exist.

SIDENOTE: This movie should ONLY be in Black & White. There are versions out there that have this movie in color ...such versions are blasphemy!!