So, here it is - Merry Christmas. December 25th. The big day is finally here. The End. Well, not quite, as I have one last film to go. It’s normally children who get out of their beds way too early on Christmas morning, excitedly racing to the tree to tear off the wrapping paper on all those appealing presents. Not in this house, though. Oh no - in our home it’s me who’s up way before the crack of dawn, unable to sleep. It’s not that I’m thrilled to see if Santa’s been. Well, not just that. It’s because I know that today’s film will be the last. Okay, not the last Chritsmas film I’ll watch ever, I’m quite sure, but certainly the last one I’ll be viewing for a long damn time. I’ve deliberately saved this one for the end as it’s the one that people bang on about, proclaiming it The Greatest Christmas Film of All Time. Funny thing is, I’ve never actually seen it.
Lauded as a cinematic classic for 75 years now, 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life is, for some mad reason, a movie I never really fancied the look of. I’m not sure I could tell you why - perhaps I was being snobbish because it’s a black and white film or maybe …maybe I just always thought it looked like overly melodramatic, insipid tosh. Two years ago, before the world went topsy turvy, I did give in and buy Frank Capra’s much admired festive flick on DVD and stuck it on while wrapping presents one night. I lasted about twenty minutes, finding I just couldn’t get into it. I found it slow, a bit dull and, for some reason Jimmy Stewart (Rear Window)’s voice just bugged the hell out of me. I can only assume I must have been in a weird mood at the time as I enjoy it thoroughly today. However, as controversial as this may sound, I still struggle to see why so many regard it as “The GOAT” as the young ones seem to say these days.
For one thing, Christmas barely features in the plot at all until the film’s final thirty or so minutes. This one is less a straightforward story of the festive season and more a study of one man’s life and how circumstances beyond his control have made him feel like he’s missed out on a lot, rather than being able to appreciate everything he’s accomplished. Disappointed with his lot in life, blue collar working class everyman George Bailey (Stewart) decides, one frosty Christmas Eve, that he’s worth more to his family dead than alive and ponders taking his own life. Before he goes through with it, George is visited by a disarmingly average-looking guardian angel named Clarence (Henry Travers) who gives him a vision of how the world would have been had he never been born.
There’s an incredibly festive message at the heart of this film, the theme of great kindness being its own reward and the idea that “no man is a failure who has friends”. It’s just that, for a film that promises divine, angelic intervention from its opening frames - an impressively realised conversation between a bunch of talking ‘stars’ in the night sky - it takes a hell of a long time to get to it. I’ll admit that by the time that Clarence does show, I’ve completely forgotten that this is the whole point of the film.
Essentially, this is a whole hour and a half of flashbacks, the highlights and lowlights of the life of George Bailey, a hard-working, humble man who never quite made it out of his quiet little hometown of Bedford Falls. Though as a cocksure young man he harbours dreams of seeing the world and having great adventures, one thing after another conspires to keep him home - from the death of his father, to the unexpected turmoil faced by the family savings and loans business. George ends up leading a busy and noble life - he always stands up for the little guy in the face of the greed of local fatcat banker Mr Potter (Lionel Barrymore, A Free Soul) - but constantly feels unfulfilled, like he could be doing something bigger and better.
This reminds me so much of myself and how I’ve been feeling lately, it’s freaky. Just like George, who grows envious of an old school chum who “got out” and made it big, I too have been suffering my own existential crisis. Mainly because I too have felt like life held so much promise but have ended up feeling like an underachiever. That sort of thing is bound to happen when an old colleague winds up becoming a Hollywood film star and the face of a high-profile men’s cologne campaign that’s been all over Christmas telly, while you’re left tidying up Lego, doing the bins and wondering if you can afford a weekend at Butlins for Easter.
It becomes too easy to convince yourself that your life’s been a waste, rather than recognise all the cool, amazing things you have done, the lives you've changed and the love that you've gained. Watching this, sitting in the dark on Christmas morning, it strikes me that I'm not loaded, I'm not famous, but I've got a roof over my head, a wife and child that love me and plenty of things to look forward to. All that makes me feel lucky as hell. I guess I didn't need to watch (at least) 365 Christmas movies in a row to realise that but what the hell. I've done it now! It momentarily crosses my sleep-deprived brain that maybe I should just have watched this one first and I'd have been alright. Hmmmm. Maybe best not to think about that.
Anyway, Capra's leisurely paced movie takes its time chronicling George's life, from his heroics as a child saving his brother's life but damaging his hearing in the process, to marrying high school sweetheart Mary (Donna Reed), raising a family and helping the town's poor folk buy houses. His endeavours don't make him rich, as he's a man of principle who simply can't turn a blind eye to the injustices of the affluent and the neediness of his community and neighbours.
Stewart's honest, layered everyman performance goes a long way to presenting George, not as some saint, but as a reluctant hero who can't help but do the right thing, even if it messes up his own wedding night. This is a sweet film that goes to great pains to recognise that nice guys don't always finish last - it's just a little too easy for them to think that way. .
It's also quite a scary film in the way that it constantly reminds us that our carefully balanced lives might be just one little mistake away from a complete collapse. When some bank money is misplaced right before Christmas, it looks like George will lose everything and he appears to lose all hope. Realising that his life insurance money could keep his family afloat, he ends up getting drunk and ends up standing alone on a bridge, late at night, right before his guardian angel finally shows up.
I'll admit, the film loses me a little at this point and seems like it's in a hurry to rush through all the various examples of how the world would be a lot worse without him. It'slike if A Christmas Carol spent 90 minutes telling us about Scrooge's life before those pesky spirits turned up and then realised there wasn't any time left to tell the rest of the story.
Still, it is rather effective, even if Capra lays it on exceedingly thick, before all George's problems seem to become miraculously solved in the three minutes it takes him to arrive home and take off his scarf and coat. After measuredly pacing himself in the telling of this man's life story, Capra suddenly seems determined to do a last gasp sprint towards the finish line, which puts me off a little bit.
There's no denying, however, that this is a truly great, five-star film. It's a grand tale about post-WWII people, ordinary citizens who, following a dark period, became determined to pull together and do right by each other.
As we spend a second Christmas in the grip of the Covid-19 Coronavirus, this one makes me feel more inspired and positive about life, my fellow human beings and the world. More than anything, this is a film about endurance, about the dogged tenacity of the human spirit, about never giving up, no matter how bad things get. For me and my family, his had been a fucking hard year filled with disappointment, tragedy amd anxiety.
But you know what? Today is Christmas and I'm surrounded by the people I love most and we've made it. We're all still here and we made it. I made it. I got to the end of not just this ridiculous quest but a phenomenally tough year and, though I'm exhausted, drained, knackered, I'm also incredibly proud.
The thing is, as George Bailey learned, one ending is not the end of everything. You still have the rest of your life to lead until it's over. I'm glad I've stuck to my guns, applied myself and done something weird and wonderful with my time here on Earth. Now, I'm determined to do a whole lot more with it. But maybe I'll watch a few non-Christmas films while doing it.
So yeah, It's a Wonderful Life is a great, thought-provoking film. I can see why people adore it.
It's just not as good as Home Alone.
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