Well, I didn’t want to leave off Christmas with a grumpy post and AMC really ticked me off this morning with their colorized Miracle on 34th Street. Thankfully I was able to have a positive experience at the movies today (and it was definitely NOT COLORIZED!!!). Cinemark has what they call Cinemark Classics and 3-4 times a month they air a classic movie usually for just a day or two on one of their screens.
This year I was able to see Ghostbusters in September which was a delight and today I saw the classic It’s a Wonderful Life.
Check out the website for all their listings and participating theaters.
http://www.cinemark.com/cinemark-classic-series
It was such a neat experience to see one of my favorite movies on the big screen and I found it more emotional in the theater. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because I was completely focused on the movie with no electronic or otherwise distractions.
I think most people know the story of It’s a Wonderful Life so I won’t go deep into it. Basically it’s a about a man played brilliantly by Jimmy Stewart who has never gotten to choose his life (or so he feels). Life presented him with the right and wrong thing to do and no third choice, so he is left to dream about adventures and freedom.
This picture was actually taken at the theater (don’t worry I was very sneaky and had the light on my phone completely off). George has seemingly always make sacrifices others did not have to make and we get to see his entire life story as told to his guardian angel Clarence played wonderfully by Clarence Odbody.
In his life he is constantly saving people. He saves his brother from drowning as a boy and he sacrifices hearing in one ear. In an especially touching moment he saves his employer Mr Gower from accidentally poisoning a patient when he is grieving over news. Mr Gower slaps him hard and the child actor is very good in the scene, really showing the pain in his ear and the love he feels for this man.
George gives up his trip to Europe when his Dad dies. He gives up college to keep the villain and town Scrooge Mr Potter from taking over the Savings and Loan operated by his benevolent father. He gives up leaving again to get married and then he gives up his honeymoon to save the Savings and Loan from the run on the bank.
Lionel Barrymore is excellent as Mr Potter who actually gives reasons for his unfeeling ways. Reasons you might hear in politics and business today but on a small town level George knows people need a home and a chance and he sacrifices again to give that to others.
But once we get caught up to the date middle aged George’s stupid uncle has lost the deposit all $8000 of it. This means bankruptcy and possible warrants for embezzlement. It’s all too much for George and he has a breakdown and wonders if he is ‘more valuable dead than alive’.
Stewart is completely convincing as he unravels and reaches that point of no return. As someone who has had a nervous breakdown (but not suicidal) it feels totally authentic. The sense of panic and fear in his voice I totally buy.
Just then Clarence comes and decides to teach George what life would be like if he had never been born.
It is true that the alternate reality of life without George is pretty stark but it is a fable and I can grant it some dramatic license. (I have pretty healthy self esteem but I don’t think if I hadn’t been born that my hometown would be a den of sin and debauchery…ha).
The filming of director Frank Capra and cinematographer Joseph Walker does not get enough credit. The starkness and grittiness of Pottersville verses the light and warmth of Bedford Falls is gorgeous.
Stewart is so good in the many roles he is required to play. In one movie he is young, a dreamer, tough, panicky, frustrated, angry, desperate, drunk, joyous, an engaging father, annoyed, in love and everything else. And he is equally convincing in every scene.
Him and Donna Reed have wonderful chemistry and the dialogue between them is as good as any romantic comedy at first and then confrontational while deeply caring later. It feels like a real couple.
It’s just such a joyous picture. It reminds all of us that we are not alone and that more people love us than we realize. It can be easy to feel alone in this world but I think if we all got a picture we’d be surprised how many people are praying and worried about us. And if we are alone we may be Ebeneezer Scrooge’s and not letting them in (It’s a Wonderful Life is kind of the flip side of Christmas Carol when you think about it).
It’s easy to feel cynical about movies like It’s a Wonderful Life. Modern life can seem so much more complicated with texting, facebook e-dating and all kinds of impersonal relationships. But this year I saw Boyhood and found myself thinking about It’s a Wonderful Life while watching that movie.
What moved me most in Boyhood is kind of the same thing that moved me in It’s a Wonderful Life. Like George Bailey, the mother character Olivia played by Patricia Arquette, never really has a moment to commit to her life. The Ethan Hawke character gets a chance to go to Alaska and decide to be a father and to live a particular kind of life. Olivia has 2 kids and just has to live and like George she isn’t given a lot of choices, and sometimes the ‘lesser evil’ proves to be a nightmare. At the end her son is moving away to college and she starts to cry and says ‘my life is over’. It feels like a similar moment to George Bailey realizing all the sacrificing has been for what to be left alone.
But there is redemption, maybe not as dramatic as in Wonderful Life but she has lived a good life. She has raised two great kids and done the best she could and realizes she has friends, if only in her children. I was really moved today when I saw the note from Clarence to George.
I think that is the message from Boyhood and It’s a Wonderful Life- no man is a failure who has friends and has loved people as best as he or she can. I know that sounds cheesy but it’s true.
At Christmas those who believe in Christ’s sacrifice and life recite the scripture ‘greater love hath no man than this that he lay down His life for His friends’. That is the message of It’s a Wonderful Life, of Boyhood and of Christmas. Life is precious because of who we can love.
I know it is just a blog and I know it is just movies but I hope you have sensed my love for stories and life. Roger Ebert said it best:
“We all are born with a certain package. We are who we are: where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We’re kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize a little bit with other people. And for me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.”
So in that spirit Merry Christmas friends and fellow-journeymen in life and a Happy New Year. It is a wonderful life.
I am split on a wonderful Life. I like the concept. I am certainly not jaded enough to scoff about the message. But I don’t think that it is a particularly good movie. Some elements are just a little bit too corny (and I don’t think that it is necessary for the story), and some of the “consequences” are a little bit too silly. Like “oh good, if he hadn’t existed his wife would have ended up as a SPINSTER!!!!” and some other nonsense. I think I would truly love the movie if the corniness were a little bit toned down and the consequences were more along the line of “because you weren’t there to rescue your brother, he wasn’t there to rescue even more people”. More cause and effect and less of this overblown “nobody you know had a chance to be happy just because you have never been born”.
Similar with all the decisions he had to made along the line, which always boiled down to doing the responsible thing vs. the thing he really wanted to do. This string of events would fit better into a movie in which the angle shows what would have happened if he had done the alternative.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not a bad movie either, and I get why Americans love it so much. But for me it is one of those movies which are aggravating to me because it is such a great concept paired with a not so great execution.
Fair enough. I love it. It’s definitely a fable which tend to have big consequences to teach a lesson but you also have to remember that he’s about to kill himself. Perhaps a more subtle reality wouldn’t have done the job?
I always felt like the old maid made sense because she’s meant to be with George so if he isnt around than she doesn’t find her soul mate. Some of the other consequences are a little more over the top like I said in the review but he’s being taught a lesson by God who doesnt tend to be subtle when teaching lessons if the scriptures are any sign.
I get what you are saying but it’s a fable and it’s executed extremely well with underrated cinematography and acting. Totally loved seeing it on big screen yesterday. I know people from all around the world who love this movie so I’m not sure it is just Americans.
But to each his or her own. I was really moved by it and like I said in the review it made me think about Boyhood and how life is about the people who we get a chance to love. That’s a more subtle message even if a primary message may not be subtle.
But I hope you have a Merry Christmas! And thanks for always commenting and taking the time to share your thoughts.
Christmas is already half over here, due to the fact that Germany is ahead of the US when it comes to time zones, plus, our gift exchange happens on the evening of the 24th, not the morning of the 25th. I’ll spend some quality time with my family later and tomorrow I’ll mostly relax and maybe catch up on some stuff.
Great! Well have a great half rest of your day