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La Vita e’ Bella (Life is Beautiful) August 2, 2021 ART/100 Introduction of the visual and Performing Arts University of Phoenix

La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful)

This film signifies as a reminder to us all every morning as we wake to be thankful regardless of life’s struggles at the end of the day “la vita e’ bella” … “life is truly beautiful!” This masterpiece takes place in Italy in the 1930’s WW2 times. Reel Peel blog (2017) describes the film “La Vita e Bella tells the story of a man’s pursuit of love and the lengths that he must take to protect his family as the ensuing implications of the holocaust threaten to strip away their idyllic lives.” (para 3) The first half begins with a romantic comedy. Bright colored village with an Italian style charm as co-writer, director, and actor Roberto Benigni as Guido is so funny with his silly antics trying to woo over the girl of his dream. The comedy from Benigni makes you laugh you almost forget it is about the holocaust. Then the second half begins with Dora Guido’s wife played by Nicoletta Braschi coming home to a trashed house knowing the Nazi soldiers have taken her husband and son. The movie ends with tears that no-one watching can hold back but are proud having seen such a great unforgettable film.

As you begin to watch this movie that does not seem like a tragic Nazi film, feels more like a comedy with a story like fairy tale. Reel Peel blog describes “Romantic themes are inscribed almost to the extent of a fairy-tale. (2017) Guido who is a goofball from the start is chasing the girl of his dreams in a cute village town in Italy. Costumes designers fit the scene well as you can clearly tell who has money and who could use a little more. Dora is engaged to an upper class wealthy Italian man and her snobby mother wants her to marry him. Dora looks very unhappy and ask Guido to take her away.

La Vita e Bell (Life is Beautiful)

Guido gets on a horse that is painted green outside the restaurant “the green paint on his uncle's horse was the first act of anti-Semitism that is shown in the film and really the first time you learn that Guido is Jewish”.(Rosenberg, 2021) But nonetheless, she jumps on, and they ride off to be married and have a son named Joshua played by Giorgio Cantarini. The second half you see things soon take a turn for the worse.

Dora walks in to find the house trashed and her family gone. She knows right way the Nazis have captured them and taken them to the train station. “In fact, all the idyllic imagery, bright-lighting and color palette and joyful characters are abandoned. (Reel Peel, 2017) Dora a non-Jew tries to tell them they have made a mistake, but it does no good. Dora tells them to stop the train because she wants on. Guido and Joshua are in a different car and Guido is convincing his son they are off to play a big game of hide and seek. “The effort and love that emanated from Guido are the messages relayed by the movie” (Rosenberg, 2021) As they arrive to concentration camps it is dirty and all the prisoners are in striped dirty jump suits. All the while, Guido is sticking to his plan of the game and making the best of the situation to protect his son from the horror that is all around them.

The movie continues to show how wonderful of a role played out by Benigni holds true to the very end. He somehow sneaks to a loudspeaker and relays a message to his wife from him and Joshua, so she knows they are safe. The comical role of Benigni as he knew just how to keep

La Vita e’ Bella (Life is Beautiful)

His son convinced of the game in the same ways, he won his wife over. “As the mantra of the film details in its opening title cards, ‘like a fable there is sorrow and, like a fable, it is full of

Wonder and happiness’ (La Vita e Bella, 1997) and this concept is upheld in the positive resolution, which sees Joshua survive due to the efforts of his father. (Reel Peel Blog 2017 Guido hides Joshua as he sees the Nazis all in dismay and thinks they may have a chance. He tells Joshua he must stay hidden so they can win the game as he looks for Dora, but he gets caught by a soldier. Joshua is looking through a hole from where is hiding and his father gives him a wink and then walks in a funny fashion, so his son thinks it is all part of the game and Joshua giggles at his father as he stays hidden. Once the camps are clear and Joshua comes out to look for his father a US Army tank comes around the corner and Joshua shouts in Italian “it is true,” He jumps in the tank with the solider eventually finding his mother and the film ends in bright colors and love from a mother to her child.

The sacrifices Guido puts himself through to make sure his son is safe and entertained touches our hearts in the second half. The wonderful imagination Guido has is more than just for humor, it won him is wife and he got his bookstore and a wonderful family life. Only to turn around and have him and his son scooped up by the tragedy of WW2. Guido then once again won by protecting his son from the brutality that someone so young did not need to know. This movie won so many awards because of the way this wonderful actor made sure to remind everyone who watches that we can never forget our worlds history for it’s good and it’s bad but most of all to remind us… La Vita e Bella “Life is Beautiful”

Reference: Reel Peel Blog(2017). https://reelpeelblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/roberto-benignis-la-vita-ebella-life-is-beautiful-a-brief-study-on-genre

Rosenberg, Jennifer. (2021, July 31). A Movie Review of Life Is Beautiful. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/life-is-beautiful-movie-review-1779666...