The original title for this movie is La Vita e Bella that was then translated from Italian to English to Life is Beautiful because of the success it had in Italy. Life is Beautiful is one of those films that one person does everything for, sort of like the Tyler Perry movies. Roberto Benigni directed, wrote, and stared in this film; he basically did everything there is to be done in a movie, which shows the amount of talent and passion Benigni has for his career. In essence Life is Beautiful consist of two different plots joined together in one movie; the first half of the movie is about how Guido (Roberto Benigni) a Jewish man falls in love with a Princess named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) and tries to get her to fall in love with him. Guido wins Dora’s heart and they marry, they then go on to having a beautiful baby boy named Giosie (Giorgio Cantarini). The film then takes a dark turn when Nazi’s take both Guido and his son away to a concentration camp. While Dora gets left behind because she is not Jewish, however she got on the train that takes the Jewish to the concentration camp anyway because she wanted to make sure she was close to her family.
This film starts out as a romantic comedy and then turns in to a movie on the Holocaust. It sounds completely crazy, but trust me it works because that’s how life is; we have our amazing moments and then we have our horrible ones. The fact that the movie is called Life is Beautiful even though it’s a movie on the Holocaust adds to the genius of the movie, because life is not always unicorns and rainbows, but it is the hard times that we go through that makes life beautiful. Since it would be difficult for the audience to connect the two plots without there being any common ground, there were some phrases that were repeated in order to connect both parts. For example when Guido first met Dora he greeted her as “hello princess,” and ever since then, every time he sees Dora he greets her that way. When they were in the concentration camps and Dora was trying to get a hold of Guido and their son Giosie, Guido was able to get on the loud speaker and say “hello princess” so that Dora knew that they were well. This single phrase connected the entire movie, because even though the second portion of the movie was dark and sad that one phrase reminds you of the funny and good times that happened at the beginning of the film. The relationship between father and son is also very strong in this movie.
This is one of my favorite scenes from the movie:
Guido uses dramatic irony to create comedy in this scene by appealing to his son’s humor while still making sure the guards thought he was translating the rules of the camp correctly. This scene is especially funny because the audience knows that he is in a concentration camp yet he is being lighthearted for the sake of his son. The reaction his son has to the rules and the reaction the Jewish prisoners have are very different, which adds a layer of humor on top of the irony. Guido did not want to expose his son to the traumatic realities that was going on around them; so, in order to explain to his son where they were he came up with a game. If they behaved properly and followed all the rules they would win a war tank at the end. At the beginning I felt that Roberto was committing a huge injustice by not telling his son what really was going on, because the little kid needed to understand where he was and the severity of the situation, or else he would grow up closed minded and naive. However, the ending of the movie worked better because he didn’t know the game was made up. His innocence was what made the entire film work.
Daniel Serrano says
One thing I really enjoy about movie analyses is that upon watching (or re-watching for that matter) said movie, one can easily notice the smaller details and meanings tied into the overall plot. While I, as one who doesn’t watch many movies in general, have not seen this particular film, the brief yet understandable manner in which you describe and point out specific aspects of the movie does a great job of giving readers a feel for the film while explaining implications one may not notice fully upon first watching it.