Life is Beautiful was made in 1997 by Roberto Benigni. 1
This review contains spoilers.
Setting 🔗
The movie is a two part story, starting in pre-WW2 Italy and ending in a German concentration camp.
The first part shows how the protagonist, Guido, finds the love of his life and starts a family, the second how his family tries to survive the hours of Nazi Holocaust camps.
Guido is a bit of a comedian and always joking around. No matter the situation, he will find a way to make light of it and have some fun.
As a character Guido leaves me split. He has a fantastic sense of life, which is undeniable. Even when being marched away to his death, knowing his son is watching, he continues the charade of the game.
we can see he holds love for his wife and son, as his highest values, continuously keep the game going for his song and risking his life to let his wife know he loves her (broadcasting onto camp intercom).
On the other hand, is his sense of life delusional? If he had been more realistic, would he have seen the writing on the wall and left Italy before it was too late and him and his family were sent other camp? When his uncle’s horse is grafted he brushes it off and makes nothing of it. When his store is marked as “Jewish”, he brushes past it and keeps going.
His ability to keep going is impressive but did it also cause him to evade the reality of the events that were happening around him?
Hilights 🔗
I particularly enjoyed the scene where he “translates” for the German guards. To see that, even in a dire situation he had the courage to simultaneously assure his son everything was ok and mock his oppressors show how, no matter what, even in servitude, he would be a servant:
Think of a sunflower, they bow to the sun. But if you see some that are bowed too far down, it means they’re dead. You’re here serving, you’re not a servant. Serving is the supreme art. God is the first of servants. God serves men, but he’s not a servant to men.
- Eliseo
A later scene in the concentration camp perfectly summarises the movie: While carrying his son around the camp, Guido turns a corner to find a pile of dead bodies several stories high. His son is asleep in his arms, resting his head between Guido’s neck and shoulder. This beaultifully summarises the movie, with Guido carrying his son through the horrors of the camp, keeping his son in a dream.
Summary and Lessons 🔗
Ultimately, we see Guido achieve his goals. His wife makes it out of the camp by chance, and his son survives by design. He loses his life, which shows that not every coincidence in the film could go his way, but this eventuality is immaterial to Guido, as his life was always a secondary value to that of his son.
Was Guido delusional? Maybe. Would his son have survived if he was more “down to Earth”? Certainly not. In the end, Guido assessed the situation around and applied the skills he had available to him to realise the values that he had control over - the survival of his son.
There are two lessons I took from Guido’s character:
- To retain an indomitable spirit in the face of the worst circumstances imaginable, is a truly heroic feat.
- No matter the situation, we can apply our skills to the achievement of our values.
Life is Beautiful is a sophisticated movie that blends comedy, romance and tragedy. It present an unconventional picture of what it means to be heroic, and while the ending is simultaneously tragic and happy, it’s impossible not to feel a sense of awe for Guido’s spirit and the love that he feels for his wife and son.
Highly recommended.