Movie Minx

Starring: James Stewart
Directed by: Frank Capra

Plot An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed.

But is it any good?

Only the most hard-hearted, cynical bastard could fail to be touched by Wonderful Life. While its senitmentality may be challenging in this day and age, everybody needs a spoonful of sugar now and then. I’m sure watching it at Christmas time is a particularly moving experience - for some reason I’d never seen it, in New Zealand we always seem to get Sound of Music and/or Gone with the Wind on December 25.

I knew the outline of the story, but I didn’t expect to get so attached to its protagonist, George Bailey (Stewart). Poor George just wants to get out of the small town he grew up in, travel a bit and then go to college, but events continue to conspire against him. As the years pass George always does the right thing, putting others before himself each and every time, until he finds himself one Christmas Eve standing on a bridge overlooking an icy river and contemplates jumping in.

Basically this film is all about how we touch the lives of others, without even realising it. It has one of the most uplifting endings I’ve ever seen. You may or may not find tears rolling down your face, but you will feel touched, whether you believe in angels or not.

IMDb’s rating: 8.6/10
My rating: 8.5/10

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