The movie which changed my life........

I'm not a great movie buff but do manage to catch up whenever i get time..... You know of all the movies i would have seen till date i can say... some were awful.... most were good...but then there were those rare movies which were really the great ones.

These are not just movies. Their message goes much beyond its duration...it starts affecting you deeply....has power to influence you and change the way you look at things.....the message touches your soul. I wanted to share the experience of one such great movie which had a similar effect. This one i saw last Christmas

I always knew this movie was special the moment i saw it. But i thought it was just a passing phase as many other things in life. I expected the message to wane off with time. However i realised that as days passed, the message moved deeper within me to a point where it connected with my soul. Today, five months since i first watched the movie i still am deeply influenced by what the movie had to say. And hence today i am convinced that it truly is a great movie and something worth sharing for the benefit of all

This movie, I'm sure not many would have heard of is a 1940's classic called 'Its a Wonderful life'. directed by Capra.

The movie is the story of the life of common man George Bailey, as told to his guardian angel Clarence Odbody, who has been recruited to save him in his moment of need.

The suicidal character in question is George Bailey (James Stewart), a good man who considers himself cheated out of the life he could have had.

His life is full of struggles. As a young child he dreams of shaking the dust from his shoes and traveling to far-off lands, but one thing and then another keeps him at home.

He takes on responsibility quite early in life. George helps his dad run the house by working in a shop and also takes care of his younger brother. Studying as well as working together, he could never enjoy his childhood.

As a young man when George finally decided to realise his dreams and set off to some far off land another dramatic turn takes place; his father's death. In unfortunate circumstances he had to forgo his plans of going abroad and is forced to take over his dad's business.

George lives in the hope that one day his younger brother would take over the reins of his dad's business so that he can pursue his dreams. However life again turns a cold shoulder; his brother never returns, he gets married and starts his own business.

Despite all the hardship George always remains a good human being, hoping that someday god would be kind on him.

He gets married a beautiful girl, Donna who loved him for his goodness despite the fact that he was not rich. So much for his bad luck that on the day they were to leave for a honeymoon, a crisis situation emerged and he had to forgo his plans. Instead he had to spend all the money for some other cause.

He spent most of his time helping poor people of his town get loans to repay debt and to build houses and thereby save them from the clutches of the miser landlord, who wanted to take control of the town and convert it into a gambling zone. George spent day and night to build houses for the poor protecting them against the negative forces of the landlord

However all his life he never got what he longed for. Despite all his hardships George was still hopeful that one day he could fulfill all his responsibilities and would take his family to a far off place to begin a new life. However fate had planned otherwise. There was a robbery in his office wherein all the money deposited by the people from the town was stolen. And worse he was held responsible....He could not believe it; the money was too large to be sourced. He even begged to the cruel landlord who ignored him

George was frustrated with his life. He drank for the first time in his life. This was too much to bear; the shame of being called a robber. He saw his life falling apart. He lost all hope. He wondered as to why all this was happening to him when he did only good...he finally decided to commit suicide....

Its here when the guardian angel who had been watching George's life comes down to earth to help him. The angel talks to George (who refuses to believe that he is an angel from heaven but a drunkard in white clothes) The angle tries to convince George that he is making a mistake and he never really understood what life is all about.

George wanted to die as the police was behind him and he felt that he is a burden on the society. He has never been able to do anything useful, not even keep his family happy.

This is when the story takes a dramatic turn, the angel now plays his trump card. He decides to convince George that he is much more valuable than what he thinks. And that he really has made a difference in this world

To prove this the angel takes him back 45 years and shows him how life would have been if he was never born! Both the angel and George are now spectators in this world where George was never born.

George visits his family (in this world where he's never born). To his horror he finds that his younger brother had died at the age of 7. The angel turns to George and says " You remember you had once saved your brother from drowning when he was young. If you were not there he would have been dead".

The angel takes him around the town and then shows him a person who was about to commit suicide. George immediately recognizes him as his friend Antony who he had helped by providing some money to repay his debt. The angel again remarked " You see if you had not helped him he would have reached this stage".

As the angel takes him around the town, George realises that the entire town had become criminal, as there were gambling outlets everywhere. Apparently the landlord had snatched all the land from poor people of the town through fraud. George is saddened at the sight of seeing his beautiful town in such dire state. The angel tells George " Do you now realise if you had not helped the poor people from the clutches of the landlord he would have taken control of the entire town"

In this way the angel made George realise the number of people whose life he had changed, which even he was not aware of....

Finally George had tears in his eyes he realised that he really has made a difference for many people and what he was about to do was really shameful. He thanked the angel for making him understand that 'Life is wonderful' and worth celebrating.

He now did not fear getting arrested and decided to continue his good work. When the people of town realize that George has been arrested they are all shocked. Everybody knew that George is a good man and how much he had helped them in their time of need. In a touching gesture all of them contribute money to ensure that the stolen money is repaid and he is freed from the prison.

The last shot which is very touching is all about George meeting his family along with all the people from the town whom he has influenced in some way or the other. They all celebrate life. For the angel its a job well done

Pause

The beauty of "Its a Wonderful life" is the fact that its a tribute to the common man like you and me.

It communicates the strong message that it is not necessary to be a powerful person to influence people's lives. In a society where exciting, glamorous lifestyles of the rich and famous are exalted in the media, we need to hear Capra’s message reiterated that even a humble, “ordinary” life can make a lot of difference

We all can do good in our own ways bring positive change in people lives. Upon a little reflection inspired by this movie, we can all feel great satisfaction knowing that yes, indeed, we have made a difference in somebody’s life, however long-term or ephemeral.

We need to realise that in all our years of existence we have touched the lives of many people by our good or bad deeds. We have ALREADY made a difference to their lives . Only that we are not aware about it

Once this realisation dawns on us we understand how powerful we all are.

We have all been empowered by the lord almighty to bring a change in others lives and we should use every possible opportunity to action it. One should not worry about the quantum of change. For us it may be the smallest of gestures towards somebody but who knows for him/her it may be the most important thing at that time. I always believe that if we are able to positively influence even one person in our lifetime we would have done a great deed

Its time to celebrate life. It time to celebrate this empowerment. 'It's a wonderful life"

Pause

Perspectives...

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