As a child, my perception of the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” was that it was simply a nice flick about a guy who gets a second chance — great for the whole family to watch on Christmas Eve with a glass of eggnog and a sleeping dog at your feet. Except, it isn’t. Frank Capra’s magnum opus is a dark morality tale of a man facing an existential crisis and contemplating suicide because he believes he’s a failure and his life is meaningless. It is a towering masterpiece of Christian art that I never learned to truly appreciate until this year.
I first remember watching the movie in high school, with my family in the winter of 2002. The scene I liked best was George and Mary’s walk home after their impromptu swim at the dance. It was funny, romantic, cheeky without being risqué, and incredibly well-written. George was a man in charge of his own life, about to become a captain of industry. But of course, that’s not what happens. He gives up those aspirations for something better — a sacrifice I understood on an intellectual level, but not as something that could happen to me. Except, it did. I went to film school with big dreams of fame and fortune, only to become a high school theology teacher supporting a family of eight in central Oregon.
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For a long time, I actively avoided the film because it felt too close to my own story. Over the past year, however, I had a spiritual realignment where I learned to accept the deep treasures of my vocation. I returned to the movie to discover some beautiful insights that I hadn’t noticed before. First, George tells Mary he “wants to build things like skyscrapers a thousand feet high or a bridge a mile long.” While he doesn’t build those exact structures, his bank provides the funds to build “Bailey Park,” a development of modest homes for low income and immigrant families that even comes to be “worth twice what it cost to build.”
Yet, this doesn’t come without immense personal sacrifice. George gives up college to run the bank after his father dies. He gives up his honeymoon money to keep it afloat during the Great Crash. When his absent-minded uncle loses $8,000 of the bank’s money, he takes the blame. Setback after setback drives George to despair, to the point of considering suicide. But in the film’s famous twist, George learns of all the horrible things that would have happened had he not been born. These include not only the absence of Bailey Park, but also unintended consequences like the death of a whole transport of WWII soldiers. “Harry wasn’t there to save them because you weren’t there to save Harry,” George’s guardian angel explains. Most of us won’t see the good we do in this life. I once gave a plush toy of St. Michael to my son as a small gift, and it has blossomed into a fervent devotion. We can trust that God is working through our suffering, just as he saved us through his.
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George believes it’s his task to save everyone in his life, albeit reluctantly. Yet in the final moments of the film, he realizes how much help he’s had along the way. There’s his father, who gave him an example of service. There’s his old high school friend who, without hesitation, offers to pay for the $8,000 and beyond. There’s his wife who rallies the town to support him. Even his children pray fervently for him, with their prayers being the first words the audience hears.
Like George, I’ve also had to learn the grace to accept help from others. For most of my life, my independence was a source of pride. At one point, I even kept a laminated checklist of daily, monthly, and yearly tasks that I followed with scrupulous joy. Yet when the bills (and children) started adding up, I moved back to my home state to be near my parents, accepting both babysitting and financial support. This was a major blow to my ego, as I had always understood Christian charity to mean giving to the poor, not the other way around. Like Peter, I wanted to believe I didn’t need my feet washed. Yet, I did. Sometimes, we can support others, and sometimes we need support. It takes wisdom and humility to know the difference.
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The film ends with the best example of the beatific vision in cinema: a whole town in communion singing of friendship and faith. George’s brother Harry famously declares his brother is “the richest man in town.” Yet this could be said of any one of these characters, all of whom made Bedford Falls a better place. The same, dear reader, could be said of you. As we approach Christmas, try to appreciate what God has given you and, in return, give to others. This doesn’t have to be a Playstation 5. It could be reaching out to an estranged relative, seeking the poor in your own community, or reading the same book to a toddler for the 15th time. This is the Kingdom of Heaven Christ proclaims, and this is why George Bailey — though many of his troubles remain — can sing with true joy. For perhaps the first Christmas ever, I can share in that joy too.
