Movie Review

Submitted by: Sankalp Bibyan

“Life is Beautiful”
Synopsis:
Guido, a carefree Jewish waiter in 1930s Italy, begins his fairy tale existence by wooing and
marrying a beautiful woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live
happily together until German armies occupy Italy. He imagines the Holocaust as a game,
with the big prize being a tank, in order to keep his family together and assist his kid endure
the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp.

Theme:
Guido, the lead character in the movie and father of the family, strives to shield his son from
the horrors of the concentration camp. He is successful, but only because he has dedicated his
entire life to this goal. The film's most deep topic is the preservation of innocence, which
sparked several debates. Preservation of innocence is an essential part of raising because it
encourages healthy, mature exposure to key concerns and shields children from harmful
aspects of the world while they are still developing. This protection is important because, at
these young ages, children cannot possibly grasp the seriousness of these issues. Also,
children are developing mentally. The world they grow up in will shape the person they grow
into. No parent wants their kid to be formed by the world's indecencies, thus they should opt
to safeguard their child's innocence throughout these formative years. Guido does just that,
and it is because of this that he is a successful father.

Critical Review:
The film's first extended act is a comedy. A lot of it is silent humour about the destiny of a
well-travelled hat. The fact that Guido is Jewish isn't revealed until much later in the film.
Dora, a gentile, falls in love with him instantly and plots to meet him on the floor beneath a
banquet table in one scene, whispering, "Take me away!" Guido makes do in town by
improvising quickly. He invents a brief speech on Italian racial superiority, proving the
excellence of his enormous ears, after being mistaken for a school inspector.

In order to make the humour conceivable, the film softens the Holocaust significantly. Guido
would have no place in the genuine death camps. But "Life Is Beautiful" is about the human
spirit, not Nazis and Fascists. It's all about salvaging what's good and hopeful from the ruins
of dreams. Concerning the possibility of a better future. Concerning the necessary human
belief, or delusion, that things will be better for our children in the future than they are now.
Key moment:
Guido advises Joshua to hide in a little metal box near the end of the movie, an act that is also
echoed in an earlier scene. Joshua's delusion, however, lasts until the end of the film, when a
real American tank appears and he is reunited with his mother.

Takeaways:
Life is a Beautiful is a remarkable film about a guy who fabricates a tale to convince his kid
that there is a game going on in the camps, and that if one of the players wins, he will receive
an original tank. And, this man is a master of puzzles; he is also madly in love with his wife,
whom he married when she was married to another man. It plainly demonstrates that a guy
should always try until he succeeds, and that love is always just around the corner. He is one
of those Jews who always smiles no matter what happens in his life. He tells us to grin no
matter what situation we're in, and that we shouldn't be concerned with the things that will
naturally fall into place. Despite anti-Semitic sentiments and legislation, Benigni intended to
illustrate that life is truly lovely as you observe Guido's unwavering efforts to provide his kid
a thrilling concentrated experience. You become fatigued as you watch him go through his
arduous day, yet you smile as he chats to his son and makes him giggle.