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A time to reflect?

The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Director: Henry Koster

Even though 'It's A Wonderful World' (1946) may be hailed as the best Christmas movie of all time, the message behind 'The Bishop's Wife' is the same. Christmas is a time of giving (to the needy) and caring, and it is a time for peace on Earth. 'The Bishop's Wife' is nowhere listed as even the top thirty of X'mas films.

Christmas is in the air, but there is no peace in the life of Bishop Henry Brougham. The stress of getting funds to build a new cathedral is proving too much. He neglects his parish, his wife and daughter. The Bishop asks for God's guidance, and God sends him an angel to sort things out. In the neighbourhood, there is also a learned professor who has been procrastinating on his book writing. A wealthy widow is also trying to figure out how to utilise her husband's cash, give to charity, or contribute towards the cathedral. A nondescript angel, Dudley, comes in the form of a debonaire Cary Grant.

It is funny that the leaders of the same religion that calls for peace on Earth are the very same ones that call for war. The same people who call for equality are the very people who create trade imbalances. Somehow, when God supposedly created Man as equal in his own spitting image, He meant to make some more important than others. Some were designed to be slaves and to be whipped to submission. Others deserved to be colonised and bullied for their possessions.

They justify all these by building places of worship to glorify their own religion and erecting schools that denigrate other peoples' belief systems. A group of preachers are also hellbent on evangelising and converting as many lost souls as possible as they preserve prosperity in their own Motherland. The rest of the world can burn; they would find perfect bliss in fiddling!

Hey, it's Christmas. The message of peace on Earth, the glory of God and the joy of giving are the season's flavour. Come the new year, it is business as usual.


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A quote from the movie.

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Location: Anchorage, AK, USA

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