Introduction
No it’s not. Life is flatulence that eventually fades away, sometimes making walls darker, but on the whole being nothing but a memory of something that kind of once was but isn’t anymore. And nobody who was around at the time is alive to remember. But... watching Jimmy Stewart run around like a kid with too many chromosomes going in for a cuddle makes you feel like, at least for two-odd hours, you are vicariously leading one.
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| Frank Kafka |
It’s a Wonderful Life is cinematic altruism: a Dickensian piece of life affirmation that, I must admit, makes me weep when I see it. I don’t know if it’s the empathy I feel for Jimmy’s everyman George Bailey, or just how fucking sentimental it is, but it gets me. And if it gets me, then it gets you too, and you’re nothing but a liar if you say it doesn’t. A no-good, lonely liar.
Characters:
The fabulous Mr. Stewart plays George Bailey in this capitalist reimagining of the story of Job. Rather than losing everything, however, and still being expected to worship a God who doesn’t give a shit, Bailey gives everything and, in essence, questions why good things don’t happen to him. Or do they?
They do at the end of the film when all of the people he has helped throughout his life pull through and – BETTER LATE THAN FUCKING NEVER - help him. However, there is no particular accolade to this; Bailey is rewarded not in the sense of posterity, or being immortalised, like his brother who is a war hero, or Sam Wainwright, his successful counterpart. No, Bailey’s reward is as humble as his own generosity.
Plot:
The film, on the one hand, is typically American – it expounds the virtues of prudent capitalism, saving money, and the independent, small entrepreneur, whilst emphasising the importance of community spirit and charity. Bailey is arguably hard-done-by, having dedicated his life to ensuring the fulfilment of other’s dreams and ambitions, which is, on the surface of it, a very sad story. However, through abandoning his own lofty aspirations and ideologies he is taught that life can be just as fulfilling without them.
On the other hand, it’s a grim tale of a man who, through Catholic guilt, is pushed to the brink of bankruptcy and works out that due to the system he is within is worth more dead than alive. It takes an angel to talk him out of it. Mr. Potter, who is the antagonist of the film, gets no comeuppance, and I can only assume he lives a long and satisfying life.
So, there are two strange concepts working against one another here. The majority of the film doesn’t bother with all the holy stuff, and it only actually comes into play in, like the last thirty minutes. I find the intervention of the supernatural very, very, very depressing:
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| Cage improvised many lines and actions |
Bailey, throughout his life, had struggled to subside, ensuring that his brother, extended family, peers, colleagues and lovers all got what they wanted, generally at his expense. He also worked tirelessly to ensure that the community was offered a fair domiciliary plan, creating a bank that loans out more money that it brings in, and constructing high-quality houses so that all of the residents can avoid the clutches of the monopolist, Mr. Potter. During this, he finds the time to court and marry a woman, have three fucking children, and renovate a very old property that he himself has aided in the disrepair of.
Oh, wait, of course he also saves his brother’s life, reinvigorates his father’s industry, wins the Second World War by killing Hitler, and develops Keynesian economics.
So, it pisses me off that, when his backwards, unproductive, absent-minded uncle (who was obviously only hired due to nepotism) loses eight-fucking-grand, Bailey, who has defeated every obstacle from smallpox to HIV, contemplates suicide and is only saved when a fucking angel intervenes. What? Really?
REALLY?
I’ve watched a man, for around an hour and forty-five minutes, struggle to come to terms with his own existence, succeed, but only to be thwarted by a stupid relative. And then, in the last fifteen minutes, or something, an angel swoops in and God takes the credit. That’s not fair.
Okay, I get that he needed to be ‘reminded’ of his own worth and all of that, but I would have found it a lot more interesting to see him work all of that out for himself, or through the plethora of selfish cunts that he’d helped over the years. Oh, again, they come in at the last fucking minute to help him out with his crippling financial situation. Oh, get the fu -
Conclusion:
I can’t criticise this film, because it elicits an emotional response from me. It works. It’s a perfect film in a lot of ways, because it asks nothing of the viewer and merely gives. I like that. It’s a Wonderful Life is the acceptable face of capitalism.
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| Herzog with an AK-47 |
Nevertheless, I would HEART to see Werner Herzog do a version of it.
“LOL? Wat?”
I didn’t expect you to understand. Herzog’s recent reimagining of the nihilist classic ‘Bad Lieutenant’ took what was originally a tale about the Catholic road to redemption and turned it into an existentialist journey, where no redemption or justice could be found. What was in effect a story about Harvey Keitel suffering from severe guilt over his amoral behaviour and attempting to find salvation was turned on its head, with Nic Cage playing a crooked cunt with absolutely no morals, and no need for salvation.
Now, if Mr. Herzog could get his hands on the often contested rights to It’s a Wonderful Life, remove the pseudo-Christian perspective, I would be very interested to see the result...
Positive: Touching, universal, Jimmy Stewart, brilliant
Negative: Actually, nothing – not even the religious aspect is particular preachy
Best line: Clarence: “Clarence!”
Bailey: “Clarence. Clarence.”
Out of ten: NINE ()
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