Despite the reputation of It’s a Wonderful Life as a heartwarming Christmas classic, both its fans and detractors like to remind audiences that it’s no feel-good film. For at least two-thirds of its running time, it is essentially the story of a man’s suicide attempt.
We watch as kind-hearted George Bailey has his dreams quashed, his ambitions curtailed and his business ruined. Then it gets even worse. At about two hours in, we watch this poor, despairing man standing on a bridge outside his idyllic small town, crippled by anxiety, overwork, debt and depression, wishing that he had never been born.
The fact that It’s a Wonderful Life remains such a popular Christmas film despite this potentially upsetting subject matter highlights something worth remembering both at Christmas and any time of the year.
