The Beauty of Life is Beautiful

If you are having a hard time choosing between the comedy and the  tragedy genre of movie to watch this weekend, Life is Beautiful could be an option for you- an unusual mixture of these two opposite poles of genre. You are in for fun, but make sure you have tissues with you! Even though Life is beautiful is marked as a comedy movie on the paper, the movie is a conglomeration of philosophy, comedy and drama. There are scenes where you are sure to laugh like crazy unless you hate comedy! That is not all; you can find the intricate philosophy in hilarious comedy scenes and hideous sensation of sorrow in the same. It is a thrilling movie about a father who tries to save his son from the harsh realities of concentration camp. 

The movie commences with a quote that defines the whole movie in a sentence, “Like a fable it has sorrow, and like a fable it is full of wonder and happiness.” Guido, played by Roberto Benigni, along with his friend arrives in a town when the brake of their car fails. The movie sets up to a comedic start, when they are mistaken for a visiting dignitary, which extends to the end of the movie.  Guido falls in love with the beautiful school teacher Dora and, in the process, “becomes the undeclared rival of her fiancé who happens to be the Fascist town clerk.” Serendipity and carefully manipulated tricks come into play to woo Dora, and forty-five minutes into the movie, “Guido and Dora glide into a greenhouse”, and emerge with a son named Joshua (Maslin). The first part of film may be acclaimed for its entertainment through interesting plot and ultimate comedy by Guido, but it is with the start of second half that the intensity of the plot deepens. The film portrays the maltreatment Jews received near the end of World War II in the beginning of second half of the movie. A group of combatants parade past a store, which has a poster that reads “No Jews and Dogs Allowed”. Joshua, at an age of five, naively asks his father why Jews are not allowed in the store. Guido replies cleverly that everyone has a choice to restrict something they do not like, and they would place a poster restricting something they do not like in the bookstore they own. A series of fabrications follow to keep his son from harsh realities that continue when Guido, Joshua and Dora, eventually, are shipped to a concentration camp.

Roberto Benigni’s high pitched voice seems very phony at times but his consistently cheerful character makes the film so lively and humorous even at the deadliest Holocaust scenes (Tatara).His real life character is much like the one he portrays in the movie. “I saw him once in a line at airport customs, subtly turning a roomful of tired and impatient travelers into an audience for a subtle pantomime in which he was the weariest and most put-upon. We had to smile” (Ebert).Film’s three Academic Awards in 1999 ,with Benigni winning the Best Actor, speaks of  Roberto’s flair both as an artist and director (Academy Award Database) . Another character on whom the main plot of film rests heavily is Joshua. The cute, lovely and innocent looking five year old is suited very well for his role in the film which required him to be innocent, playful and impish all at the same time.

 The plot is unusual. You do  not expect movie to veer its direction so swiftly from stand-up comedy to utter melancholy in matter of seconds. You do not realize you will be on the receiving end of sorrow after experiencing the hilarious showcase in the first half, until your stomach churns by what happens in the concentration camp.   However, this construct has had some criticism of an unrealistic presentation of the concentration camp and Holocaust. In “Unbelievable Optimism in Life Is Beautiful,” Paul Tatara writes:

Benigni is not in any way making light of events, but he creates such a glossy, back-lot version of a concentration camp.   He's cheating us before he even begins dealing with the horror.  The absurdities just keep on coming. To begin with, Guido has to hide Joshua in the barracks with the men…This is accomplished by having him quickly duck down on one of the top bunks whenever a guard enters the room. This is silly enough, but the barracks - which would undoubtedly have been covered with filth, human waste, and, more than occasionally, a dead body -looks like an uncomfortable place to sleep, but not much more than that.

Some critics have defended the cynicism it has received for softening the Holocaust. The real story of the film “is not about Nazis and Fascists, but about the human spirit and rescue of whatever is good and hopeful from the wreckage of dreams” (Ebert).  The film “did not intend to betray the experience of millions of Jews, but intended to show how far a father can go to save his child from the horror of the Nazi War Machine”(Brady).

Life Is Beautiful is a film which has proved that comedy and tragedy can effectively be presented to the audience in one movie. For that reason, Life is Beautiful has expanded the horizon of movies as far as genre is concerned. Except for the unrealistic portrayal of the harsh realities of a concentration camp, it is a great movie of a great class. A must watch movie for the lovers of the comedy and tragedy genres! The movie sure is unrealistic to a large degree, but it is called a fable for a reason.

Works Cited

"Academy Award Database."  The Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences. Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences,n.d. Web. 5 Deember 2013. <http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1386249746573>.

Brady, Terrence. “Life Is Beautiful.” Pan and Scan Reviews. Terrence J. Brady, n.d. Web.  15  Nov. 2013. <http://www.teako170.com/ps18.html>.

 Ebert, Robert. “Life Is Beautiful.” rogerbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC, 30 Oct. 1998. Web.14 Nov. 2013.  <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/life-is-beautiful-1998>.

Maslin, Janet. “Life is Beautiful: Giving a Human and Humorous Face to Rearing a Boy inFascism.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 23 Oct.1998. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.  <http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/23/movies/film-review-giving-a-human-and-humorous-face-to-rearing-a-boy-under-fascism.html>.

Tatara, Paul. “Unbelievable Optimism in Life Is Beautiful.” CNN.2000 Cable News Network, 10

Nov.1998.Web.Nov.2013.<http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9811/10/reviw.lifeisbeautiful>.