Life is Beautiful

The film “Life is Beautiful” was released in 1997. The director, Roberto Benigni, is also the main actor. “Life is Beautiful” is a fictional story that begins in Italy in 1939, when Guido and his friend Ferrucchio move to Arrezzo to live with Guido’s Uncle Leo. Guido meets and falls in love with Dora, who leaves her rich fiancé to marry Guido.

The story then jumps ahead a few years, to Guido and Dora’s life with their son Joshua. There are signs everywhere that prejudice against Jews has increased in Italy. One day, Dora comes home to find Guido and Joshua gone. She goes to the train station where the Jews are being loaded onto a train, and demands to join her husband and son.

After a long train journey, they arrive at a concentration camp. To keep Joshua from being afraid, Guido pretends it is a game, and that everyone at the camp is competing to win a tank. Guido manages to stay alive, entertain Joshua, and occasionally communicate to Dora that they are still alive.

Finally, the war is over; the camp is in chaos as the Germans try to destroy the evidence. Guido hides Joshua and goes in search of Dora. He is shot by a German guard. When morning comes, an American tank rolls into the courtyard, and Joshua believes it is his prize for winning the game. The American takes Joshua and leaves the camp. Joshua then sees his mother at the side of the road, and mother and son are reunited.

In the external exam, you will have to write an essay analysing an aspect of the film. Your ideas will be supported by quotes and film techniques. Remember SEXIST – link your ideas to the author’s intentions, society, and themes. The film does have a purpose – think about the title. Benigni shows us that even in sorrow and hardship, we can find beauty and happiness in life. There are a range of themes such as love, sacrifice, family, prejudice, and inhumanity in the film.

Even though it is set in the 1940s, these ideas are still relevant today – look at some of the sacrifices parents have made for their children in New Zealand recently:
www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10564792
www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10366119
www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10563891.
The prejudice and inhumanity of the Nazi regime is not forgotten either, shown in the controversy over some Facebook photos: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10604135.