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Obviously a perfect film, a genuine ode to the power of kindness and community against the evils of capitalism. But this is not something I could do every year. The bitterness stings too much, the parade of cruel indignities too painful. Every act of George's life takes a great personal sacrifice, he could feel almost saintly. But James Stewart refuses that sentimentality, he's here at his folksy best, but you also see how beaten he becomes. When he finally lashes out, it is heartbreaking and terrifying, an inevitable end to such constant kindness. The reward he's given is to see how much meaning his life has, how every true good thing he's done has made the people around him happier and better.
The famous climax is not mawkish or sentimental, but profoundly moving. My mum, who hadn't really been watching this, was nevertheless moved to tears. It's A Wonderful Life is perhaps cinema's best example of what hope actually means. It is not just the lightness, the beauty, the joy, but that as coming in the midst of something bitter and sad. Angels only get their wings after helping us through the darkest times by showing us how worse things could be if we gave away the one thing most precious of all: our very existence.
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