It's A Wonderful Life is many things to different people; it has been frequently cited by conservative sources as a champion of their cause, and was also one of few American films allowed into the former Soviet Union, due to its negative portrayal of landowners. It is a holiday staple with an attempted suicide as its inciting incident, against a backdrop of larger financial uncertainty and hardship. It is, first and foremost, a family film that is profoundly ambivalent about the demands of marriage and children, and the pursuant status quo needed to keep them stable. One could cite the original intentions and political affiliations of Frank Capra in reading the film, but all of that is ultimately less significant than the massive cult of Americana that it shaped, and the spirit that it defined perhaps better than any other film. There have been other films to celebrate family, small towns, and hard work, but there may not be another to so frankly acknowledge the sacrifice necessary for their survival, and still argue for their value.
The life of George Bailey (James Stewart) has been one of constant selflessness and disappointment; as a youngster, he lept into a frozen river to save his brother, Harry, from drowning. Harry went off to war and won the congressional medal of honor; George lost hearing in one ear. His employer, Mr. Gower, accidentally filled capsules meant for a sick boy with poison, and George prevented it from being delivered; for his efforts, a swift backhand across the face. He has dreams of leaving Bedford Falls to go off to college and travel, but his father, owner of the local Building & Loan, dies, leaving the town wide open to the predations of Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), as twisted, angry, and warped a capitalist as film has ever produced. So instead, he stays, marries Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), and moves into an old house that had long since been condemned. He has four kids, stays at the Building and Loan, and his wonderful life goes on much as it had before.
Had the narrative ended here, It's A Wonderful Life would probably still be a celebrated classic of its era, just one of an entirely different nature. Up unto this point, it is still unmatched as a portrait of insular small town life (rivaled in recent years only by Friday Night Lights), introducing a surprisingly large cast of characters without sacrificing scope or pace. But at about the two thirds mark, Life takes two gambles in a row: having George, a husband and father, seriously contemplate suicide, and resolving the problem by taking a sharp left turn into fantasy. Under any other circumstances, either of these moves would derail a film completely, but the way that they complement each other justifies both of them, because neither one acts as a deus ex machina, relieving George Bailey of his burden. If anything, they illuminate them.
Note that George's wish to the angel is that he had never been born, not that he had abandoned Bedford Falls to the cold clammy grip of Potter (though the ultimate result would be nearly the same). The fact is, George, by his nature, will intervene and do what he thinks is right, whether there'll be a positive outcome or not. Deep down, there was never any question as to whether or not he would leave town, because no matter what adventures he might have had, nowhere would ever need him in the same way that Bedford Falls does; George, like everyone else, needs to be needed. As in The Wizard of Oz, the other holiday staple whose plotline can be reliably converted into a sitcom parody, the central tenet of It's A Wonderful Life is that you are a product of your home, your family, and your community whether you like it or not, and that far off lands, be they Oz or Sam Wainwright's office in New York, are ultimately fantasies. That the finale, when the town comes to George's financial rescue, is as improbably moving as it is serves as testament to just how much feeling Capra clearly has for even the smallest of supporting players, and just how convincingly our protagonist was lurching towards suicide. Life in Bedford Falls isn't without its trade-offs; like George, a lot of people might find it boring. But it is where most of us belong, if for no other reason than that's where people would have us.
Bonus Features
A number of features have been carried over from the DVD, including a 'making-of' documentary and the original trailer. The disc features both the black-and-white and colorized versions, and the full box set comes with a Christmas tree ornament.
"It's A Wonderful Life" is on sale November 3, 2011 and is not rated. Children & Family, Drama. Directed by Frank Capra. Written by Frances Goodrich, Frank Capra, Albert Hackett. Starring Thomas Mitchell, James Stewart, Donna Reed, Ward Bond, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers, Frank Faylen, Gloria Grahame.
