Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful is a complex tale following the evolution of Italian Fascism to the mass movement of Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust, all from the perspective of one boy who tells the tale years later. The film is divided into two parts; the first half is more light-hearted, lively, and colorful and follows the love story of Guido, an Italian Jew, and Dora, a schoolteacher and the woman of Guido’s dreams. The first part of the film also includes subtle elements and scenes foreshadowing the future abjection of the Jews. Some of these scenes include brief camera shots of stores marked as being “Jew shops” for identification. However, the general subject of the first half of the film is Guido and Dora’s relationship progression. After Dora and Guido enter a picturesque and colorful green house together, there is a short time lapse and then their son, Joshua, emerges from the same green house years later. This not only serves as the climactic scene of Guido and Dora’s love, but it also provides an excellent transition for the second part of the film because the audience recognizes by the presence of Guido and Dora’s son, that the scene is years later. In this latter part of the film, the family is brought to a somber, dark, and dull concentration camp, in which Guido must use humor to shield his son from the horrors of the camp, keep him alive, and his humanity intact.
Roberto Benigni was born in 1952, right at the end of the Golden Age of Italian Cinema, a time period that heavily influenced Benigni’s work as a director. He was also heavily influenced by Charlie Chaplin, and even imitates Chaplin’s walk in The Great Dictator during one of the most important scenes of the film—Guido’s walk to his death, an observation made by Jodi Sherman in a 2002 article. [1] In this scene, a captured Guido must walk in front of his son’s hiding place before he is to be shot, as he passes his son he “smiles, winks, makes a funny face, and then struts past with a goose-step walk,” maintaining his humor and humanity until his final moments. [1] He doesn’t want Joshua to be afraid; he maintains the same persona that he has held throughout their entire experience together in order to protect Joshua’s life and his innocence, right to the very end. According to Sherman, “This last gesture enables Joshua ultimately to resist the abject and leave the camp with his humanity intact, and his story ready to share”. [1]
One concept from the Italian Neorealism period is evident in Benigni’s Life is Beautiful. Italian Neorealism films often depicted poetic, pathos-filled, and “truthful” stories—a characteristic of Life is Beautiful. This film captures one of the worlds most awful and truthful events in human history, the Holocaust. Therefore, the film itself is intended to evoke emotion from the audience purely based on subject matter. Benigni enhances this connection between audience and characters by using humor, as well as pathos to allow the audience to have more empathy for the characters through their struggles. The film itself is partially based on Benigni’s own family history, which heightens the audience’s empathy for the characters. Knowledge of this history gives them a specific connection to the characters in the story, and doesn’t allow the audience to view this as another objective Holocaust story.
Although the film holds a comedic narrative, the story is still tragic. When Guido and his son Joshua are loaded onto the train destined for a concentration camp, Guido leads his son to believe that he has reserved them this train for a special trip. When Joshua notices that they have stopped the train to let his mother on, he is excited that she will be joining them. Guido hides his horror and sorrow to shield his son, however the audience can see how devastated and heartbroken he is to see that the love of his life has chosen to come. This reminds the audience that amongst all the humor and games, these people are about to go through the worst experience in human history. This is a very sobering and humbling scene for the audience and sets the stage for the future horrors and dehumanization of the concentration camps.
Amidst all of this horror, Guido makes it his mission to make sure that his son and his wife are alive and their humanities remain intact. There are multiple instances in which Guido puts himself in danger, just to get a message to his wife, Dora. In one of these instances, Dora is going through the clothes of the elderly and children that were sent for a gas ‘shower.’ She fears that she will find her son’s clothes among them. At the same time, Guido discovers brief access to the loudspeaker and he seizes his opportunity shouting over the intercom his signature greeting, “Buogiorno Princepessa!” followed by the excited banter from her son about the game they’ve been playing. This scene is striking in that it shows Dora’s reaction to not only hearing her husband’s playful voice, but also her relief in hearing her son is alive and even sounding happy. The actions taken by Benigni as director and as actor in this scene convinces the audience that amidst horror, life can still be beautiful.
Life is Beautiful is a great film that audiences across the board would enjoy. It sheds light on one of history’s most talked about events and uses a different narrative to tell a special story that the audience can connect with. The use of humor is unique to traditional depictions in Holocaust films, however Benigni’s approach betters the film. Overall, Roberto Benigni does a fantastic job directing and acting and creates a film that does not disappoint.
[1]Sherman, J. "Humor, Resistance, and the Abject: Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful and Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator." Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies, vol. 32 no. 2, 2002, pp. 72-81. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/396013.
Submitted by Sophie Ellis
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