Right off the bat, I have to come clean and admit that I’m completely biased...Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, in my humble opinion, is by far the greatest movie of all time. Though some would say that my bias is due to my lifelong “crush” on lead actor Jimmy Stewart, I will argue that that is not [only] the reason.
...It never ceases to amaze (and somewhat disturb) me when people say that they’ve never in their entire lives watched It’s a Wonderful Life. What began as a movie hastily released at the end of 1946 (that was originally meant for the Spring of 1947), with its first showings taking place just days after that first Christmas post-World War II and went virtually unrecognized by the masses, it has since turned into the number eleven greatest movie of all time according to The American Film Institute, and (cheesy I know), ranks number one in my heart *cue the “awws”*...Recently, my family and I were having a playful debate over what the best-ever, greatest movies of all time were and aside from our timeless, classic favorites like The Godfather, Rocky, You’ve Got Mail, and a few other minor stragglers, we all unanimously agreed that It’s a Wonderful Life was at the top of the list, regardless of it being deemed a Christmas movie (meaning that we typically only watch it one time per year). Since then I’ve been reflecting on this film and the virtuous light that it radiates. Here’s what I’ve concluded:
As I write this I kind of feel as though I’m back in 11th grade writing a pre-Christmas-vacation persuasive essay arguing why this is my favorite movie but anyway...It’s a Wonderful Life is the best film ever made because of its’ relatable expressions of earthly struggle and despair while still reflecting a sense of hope that echoes throughout the entire movie. How many times within 2020 and 2021 have we tirelessly said to ourselves “can this get any worse?” and somehow it almost always does. We seem to be rounding a corner with this whole pandemic thing and then what do you know, a new strain suspiciously emerges. Violence and crime are practically at an all-time high in major cities across the US, and at home people are living paycheck to paycheck, day by day, minute by minute, wondering how we got ourselves into this neverending nightmare, just hoping that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel…
The good news is that there is in fact a light at the end of the tunnel, and His name is Jesus Christ. I know I know, you probably thought I was going to ramble on for another 2,000 words about how much I completely and unashamedly adore Jimmy Stewart despite having died before I was even born and is not at all a popular actor among my generation. But I mean this is a Christan brand so what would the point of that be unless I somehow incorporated a Christian lesson that I’ve learned into the whole schpiel and tied it back into my faith In Christ? Come on, you should’ve already known where I was heading with this by now ;)
While we choose to press on through a time of confusion and despair with seemingly no hope left to cling to at times, George Bailey, owner of Bailey Building and Loans in Bedford Falls New York, had done the same. Played by none other than Jimmy Stewart, George was a dreamer who, since the days of his youth, longed to shake the dust of his home town off his feet and sail away to exotic lands. He dreamed of living a lavish, extraordinary life full of adventure and planned on taking full advantage of everything that this life on earth had to offer immediately upon graduating. After a long series of unfortunate events -from his father’s sudden death which left him no choice but to take over his position at the family’s small bank/mortgage business, to the US entering into World War II- life just didn’t turn out the way that George had hoped it would.
As time progressed in Bedford Falls, George Bailey remained idle, working and toiling, getting nowhere fast. Years later after a scandal that left his business $8,000 in debt, George in a desperate, hasty panic, runs to the bridge at the edge of town, ready to throw himself over in an effort to provide relief for his family by means of his $15,000 life insurance policy. Moments before jumping into the deathly winter water, he sees a man already in the water below him crying for help. Being the selfless, heroic man that he was (both in the movie as well as real life), George Bailey threw himself into the water to rescue the drowning man. To his surprise, he soon learned that this was no ordinary man, but rather his guardian angel. His little “drowning stunt” was simply an effort to save George who otherwise would have committed suicide, and the rest of the movie is spent reflecting on George’s life as if he were never born to show him just how much his life was really worth. By the end of the movie, he finds himself begging to return back to his old life (not a life in which he was dead or was never born) and reunites with his family and beloved old town, being all the more thankful for everything he has, despite the tragic events leading up to that point. In the spirit of Christmas and after hearing about the losses that George suffered, his friends and neighbors chipped in to repay his debts, making him the richest man in town. Basically, everything that had once troubled him quickly faded into the background as he developed a newfound love and feeling of gratefulness for all that God had blessed him with, even despite his many hardships which seemed impossible to face alone.
So with that, what is the underlying message of It’s a Wonderful Life? To me at least, I found that the story is a reflection of how God designed us each for a unique purpose and if we have the privilege of living on this earth right now, it is because He has a plan to use us for His glory, whatever that might look like. We should look not upon what we have been burdened with in our lives but instead look to the goodness of life and all that is to come when we trust in the Lord.
George, like many of us, began his life starry-eyed and hopeful of a wonderful future. However, regardless of all of the planning one might make, we often find that “life gets in the way” and our course more times than not begins to veer off into a much different direction than we imagined, usually not the direction we were hoping for...
At some point in each of our lives, I assume that we have all felt hopelessly lost at the end of our road, as if there is simply nothing that we can do to ease our many burdens. But despite the most painfully difficult times in our lives, we can be reminded that Christmas (because this is technically a Christmas movie) is one of the most, if not the most celebrated day of the year because of Christ’s birth who was sent down by God specifically to bring new life, renewal, the chance for salvation, and hope into a world that oftentimes seems as though all hope is lost. Now this is not the main point of It’s a Wonderful Life, but it is reflected in the renewal of George Bailey’s mentality after looking at his life from a new perspective with the help of a spiritual figure.
I think we all take life itself for granted as I’m sure George Bailey was not the only one in all of history (movie and real-life history) to have wished his fate on earth were different. We often forget that God created us purposefully and that we were chosen by Him to face each trial that we come across in our lives:
He knew of every ounce of pain, heartache, and trouble that we were to go through before we even breathed our first breath on earth. So why do we fret so much about each situation that we find ourselves in? Jesus already paid it all for us when He was born, lived blamelessly, then died on the cross and rose again. And while I’m sitting here truly stretching the moral of the story, I’d like to suggest that we should not forget how valuable our lives really are and how we should not take for granted the abundance of gifts that God has already given us in our lives. If we were to never receive another gift from Him, we should still remain joyful as Christ was the greatest gift we ever could have received. Whether it be George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart, or any of us finding ourselves in a situation we cannot seem to bear, we must remain thankful that we have God who is the Deliverer from every obstacle we face.