It's a Wonderful Life

On the Monday 21st of December, four days before Christmas, I went to the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield to watch one of the special festive showings of the classic film, 'It's a Wonderful Life'. I had only seen the film twice before, but it is still one of my favourite holiday films, so I thought it would be good to go see it on the big screen.

The film is about George Bailey, a man who dreams of getting out of his hometown of Bedford Falls to go and travel the world, yet is always held back by his own willing to help the other people of the town. The first half of the film follows his life, until the point where he begins to contemplate suicide on Christmas Eve, where an angel named Clarence intervenes, and shows George how important he is to many people by taking him to a world where he was never born.

The film was named by the American Film Institute as being America's most inspiring film of the last 100 years in 2005, and it is easy to see why - the whole film is about how important compassion and kindness is, and ultimately if you are good to people, they will be good to you. The ending makes it one of my favourite films of all time, and it always makes me shed a few tears and leaves me feeling warm inside.

Although I do love the film, one of its problems is that is does take a while to get going. The first half of the film is mostly just context and setting the scene, telling George's story rather than actually advancing the plot we're introduced to at the start. Although this is necessary for the film's narrative in the second half of the film, it can seem long, especially considering the first time I watched it I only knew about the second half of the film, and thought that was the entire story, and so was confused when the introduction became more than I expected.

However, my first time seeing it on the big screen didn't disappoint. I saw it with my friend who had never seen the film before in an afternoon showing, which was full of people. The audience was of all ages, as the film has a universal certificate, and this helped build the atmosphere in the screening. Everyone laughed along, and even gave the film a round of applause at the end, something which I have never witnessed in a cinema screening, and happily joined in with.

Overall, my experience of watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' at the cinema was lovely, and cemented it's position in my heart as not only one of my favourite Christmas films but as one of my favourite films of all time. I will definitely be checking to see if The Showroom cinema put it on again next December.