“All that you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.”

Maybe the ultimate film about sticking up for the working class and immigrants, the “garlic eaters” as Potter calls them, betraying his xenophobia. He may have been modeled after Scrooge but he stands in for the wealthy of any age, the Trumps and Musks who throw their weight around without any semblance of empathy or basic humanity. In the face of this oppressive force stand the “rabble” and their leader George Bailey, whose role seems thrust upon him by fate, but he’s always making decisions at critical junctures that benefit others instead of himself. It’s a film about karma, personal sacrifice, and the importance of community and friendship. It’s also a film about the power of prayer, something I could probably do without, but there is also a faith in humanity which resonates hard with me, despite all the evil that exists in this too cruel world.

This is a stirring, heartwarming story, one whose ending gets me every time, but along the way there’s plenty of darkness here, with Jimmy Stewart particularly effective channeling his own demons, the PTSD and depression he experienced after his heroic combat service in the war (talk about personal sacrifice). The film deals with loss, dreams dashed, profound regret, striking out in anger, unmitigated greed, vengeance, and suicide. It’s presented in a fantastical, hyperbolic way but there are plenty of people who reach a point in their life when they rue roads not taken, when if they just counted their blessings they would see, as corny as it sounds, that they’ve had a wonderful life.

This is one of those rare films that blends together a variety of genres – romance, comedy, drama, and fantasy – and works well in each. Capra tells it with a perfect sense of pace, spending 100 minutes on the backstory, and giving us one brilliant scene after another. The conclusion is as sentimental as it gets, but the message, that peace in life is only attainable in those sublime moments of loving one another, is as profound as it is heartwarming.

One more quote, oh to always hold tight to this feeling of love:
“I'll give you the moon, Mary.”
“I'll take it. Then what?”
“Well, then you could swallow it, and it'd all dissolve, see? And the moon beams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair.”