It’s a Wonderful (Scratch That, Miserable) Life

About the Christ­mas clas­sic, “It’s a Won­der­ful Life,” a New York Times op-ed had this to say today:

It “is any­thing but a cheery hol­i­day tale.” It “is a ter­ri­fy­ing, asphyx­i­at­ing sto­ry about grow­ing up and relin­quish­ing your dreams, of see­ing your father dri­ven to the grave before his time, of liv­ing among bit­ter, small-mind­ed peo­ple. It is a sto­ry of being trapped, of com­pro­mis­ing, of watch­ing oth­ers move ahead and away, of becom­ing so filled with rage that you ver­bal­ly abuse your chil­dren, their teacher and your oppres­sive­ly per­fect wife. It is also a night­mare account of an end­less home ren­o­va­tion.”

And, with that, we present the 1947 film direct­ed by Frank Capra and star­ring James Stew­art:

 
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