Yet, as 2017 is nearly upon us, I'd like to make sure I post more often--and reach my goal of having more student participation on the blog. This semester I taught a Studies in Literature and Film course, and I had hoped to have some student-written posts--or at least some reviews. I didn't ever invite students to write, so that is something that I hope to accomplish next semester.
However, I have selected some student writing (reviews of the foreign language film Life is Beautiful) to share here. I hope you have a wonderful winter break--one filled with constant reminders that Life is Beautiful.
Life is Beautiful gracefully tells a sentimental tale of love against
adversity, and ultimately, human spirit. The film encompasses the Holocaust,
but chooses not to embrace it with sheer negativity. Life is Beautiful
is a fantastically endearing story, capturing the audience with its simplistic
values of hope and familial love.
First introduced is Guido, the comically clumsy but quick-on-his
feet protagonist. On numerous occasions, coincidentally and intentionally,
Guido encounters a woman called Dora. Through these surprise meetings the two
build a relationship and become a family with the addition of their son Joshua.
The dynamic is always light and humorous, even as Nazis subtly invade their
town in Italy. Guido and Joshua, Italian Jews, are sent to a concentration
camp, so Guido creates an elaborate game to protect his son from the horrifying
truth about the Holocaust.
Life is Beautiful is set in grim circumstance, but the inextinguishable optimism
projected by Guido maintains the film’s theme of love and spirit. On some
occasions, the harsh setting is utilized to shift the mood to a more uplifting
one. An example of this is when Guido announces his love for “Princess Dora”
through the camp loudspeaker, typically used to blare German orders. In other
cases, the situation is crudely exposed with an opposite effect. As Guido
carries his sleeping son through the camp, he wanders up to a shadowy mass, and
the fog slips away to reveal a towering pile of bodies. This serves as a
barbarous reminder, to Guido and to the audience, that the Holocaust is not a
game, after all. Guido is protecting Joshua from unthinkably brutal truths that
he will not realize until years later, but to everyone else, it is terrifying
reality.
Strong character development enables Guido, Dora, and Joshua to
overshadow the disturbing backdrop of their story. When Guido and Joshua are
forced into a concentration camp, attention is directed to the construction of
a mythical game, drawn up to distract the audience as much as Joshua from the
horrors of war. Guido’s contagious energy and humor outweighs German oppression
throughout the film, guiding the plot to the very end where innocent Joshua is
reunited with Dora. Life is Beautiful thematically concentrates on
familial love and sacrifice to combat cruel injustice and shield Joshua from
the Holocaust.
Rating: ★★★★/5
Foreign films never used to interest me; maybe it’s
because I didn’t want to put in effort to read the subtitles and watch the
cinematography at the same time. After watching Life is Beautiful, I
kind of fell in love. Italian is such a beautiful language, and that’s part of
the reason I loved watching this movie. I have never seen such a funny yet
serious actor as Roberto Benigni. His personality just makes me want to find
him and hug him! Life is Beautiful is now one of my favorite films.
Life is
Beautiful is about an optimistic and lighthearted Italian-Jewish man
and his family who are taken to a Concentration Camp during World War II. Their
only child, Joshua, is too young to understand what is going on. Guido, played
by Roberto Benigni, tries to protect his son from knowing creating games and
making the most out of the situation.
This
movie is definitely in my “Top 10 Films” list. I loved it so much, mainly due
to the optimism and quirky personality of Guido. No matter what happened, he
somehow made it positive. For example, when asked by Nazi Soldiers if anyone
spoke German, Guido volunteered to translate into Italian, even though he had
no idea what they were saying, all to protect his young son from knowing the
real truth of where they went and why. Guido and Joshua played this game the
whole time they were prisoners in the concentration camp, up to the day they
were saved. Joshua found his father exhausted and carrying loads of iron up
several flights of stairs. When asked what he was doing, Guido played it off
and said he was helping make the first place prize for the winner of the game;
a tank. Both of these examples, amongst plenty of others, help justify how
great this movie and this actor is. Life is Beautiful was definitely a
beautiful movie.
5/5 Stars
