It's a Wonderful Life is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I remember watching it on TV when I was younger. However, my love and appreciation for it's message didn't come until I was older. It is a classic movie with a special message. Here is a brief synopsis, not my own words by the way. It summarized it perfectly for people who haven't seen the movie.
George Bailey is a small-town man whose life seems so desperate he contemplates suicide. He had always wanted to leave Bedford Falls to see the world, but circumstances and his own good heart have led him to stay. He sacrficed his education for his brother's, kept the family-run savings and loan afloat, protected the town from the avarice of the greedy banker Mr. Potter, and married his childhood sweetheart. As he prepares to jump from a bridge, his guardian angel intercedes, showing him what life would have become for the residents of Bedford Falls is he had never lived.
I love what Doug Holm wrote to the Deseret News about It’s a Wonderful Life:
George Bailey is a small-town man whose life seems so desperate he contemplates suicide. He had always wanted to leave Bedford Falls to see the world, but circumstances and his own good heart have led him to stay. He sacrficed his education for his brother's, kept the family-run savings and loan afloat, protected the town from the avarice of the greedy banker Mr. Potter, and married his childhood sweetheart. As he prepares to jump from a bridge, his guardian angel intercedes, showing him what life would have become for the residents of Bedford Falls is he had never lived.
I love what Doug Holm wrote to the Deseret News about It’s a Wonderful Life:
"George
Bailey's life is wonderful because over the years he makes choices of
sacrifice that benefit others, and the gift given by the angel Clarence
is one of perspective. Often we overlook the many good things in our
life that still outweigh the singular difficult trial we might be going
through."
Here are a few of my favorite scenes.
“As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. This was not planned at all, but the power of that prayer, the realization that our Father in heaven is there to help the hopeless, had reduced me to tears.
Frank (Capra, the director), who loved spontaneity in his films, was ecstatic. He wanted a close-up of me saying that prayer, but was sensitive enough to know that my breaking down was real and that repeating it in another take was unlikely. But Frank got his close-up. The following week he worked long hours in the film laboratory, repeatedly enlarging the frames so that eventually it would appear as a close-up on the screen. I believe nothing like this had ever been done before. It involved thousands of enlargements with extra time and money. But he felt it was worth it…” ~Jimmy Stewart, Guideposts.
The clip above is the last part of the movie. This takes place after George Bailey, with the help of Clarence his guardian angel, sees how life would be if he never existed. It gets me every time.
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