Ya benar, penulis lebih menekankan bahwa It's A Wonderful Life adalah film terbaik sepanjang masa. Seharusnya sih film ini adalah kebanggaan dari Negara Adidaya tersebut, namun sayangnya film ini memang lebih dikhususkan untuk orang-orang yang punya selera yang baik dan cukup dalam terhadap sebuah film.Â
Baiklah, kembali ke intisari dan konklusi dalam film ini adalah:Â
"You could not pick two better works of art to send into the future to express American hopes and anxieties in 1946 than It’s a Wonderful Life and the year’s Best Picture winner, the aforementioned Best Years of Our Lives. Both films expertly contrast the American small-town ideal with its occasional failures to embody its best self. Both films wonder what’s next for the nation after more than 15 years of turmoil. And both films cast a hopeful, wearily optimistic eye toward the future.
But both films also revolve around a very potent idea of what America is and what it can be: a force for goodness. Neither is so naive as to think that by winning World War II, America has finally vanquished all claims against its moral authority. They believe America is at its best when it tries to be its best.
It’s a Wonderful Life, in particular, does not suggest this is easy. George Bailey averts jail time as the film ends, thanks to all of his friends. He will remember their selfless act for the rest of his life, but that feeling will fade and grow patchy with time. It’s a wonderful life, sure, but you have to keep reminding yourself of that fact, because sometimes it’s anything but."
Ya film ini memang tidak meraih Piala Oscar, dan James Stewart dinilai seharusnya memenangkan Oscar keduanya di sini. Tapi apa yang terjadi? Sudahlah, saya lelah membahas Piala yang katanya "bergengsi" itu. Mari kita bahas paragraf terakhir dari Emily..
"The movie ends on a moment of bittersweet catharsis but is also wise enough to know that life is long, and life is often disappointing.
On Christmas morning in 1947, 1958, 1972, George will wake up, with less and less of that memory ringing in his brain, and might be tempted to despair again, to throw away his life or what he holds dear. George never did leave Bedford Falls. He never attained his most deeply held dreams. He got stuck, and that’s difficult to discard.Â
But what you do when you’re stuck is often the best example of who you truly are. It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t an argument that George is a morally superior man, just that he’s a moral man, surrounded by other moral people, and moral people try to take care of each other. The great kindness paid to George at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life suffuses every frame that came before that moment. It’s baked in.
Capra and Stewart, back home after the world nearly threw itself off a cliff, knew how easy it is to destroy our best qualities. They knew that humanity is only as good as it is kind, and they made a film about just that. Here, in 2016, 70 years later, it bobs up to us like a message in a bottle from the past. Do not let cruelty win, it says. Reach out. Hold on. Help."
Setuju, hidup memang terkadang menjengkelkan, terkadang membandingkan hidup kita dengan hidup orang lain adalah kesalahan besar. Georga memang tak bisa mewujudkan mimpinya untuk pergi berkeliling dunia, tapi bukan berarti dia gagal. Percayalah, semesta ini akan membawamu pada keadaan yang baik, itupun jika kita tak putus asa dan terus mau berjuang akan mimpi yang kita cari.
