Example is when Guido was killed by the Nazi there is a little special effect used but just a single ‘bang’ that breaks the silence, which is followed by the feeling of the audience’s collective heart dropping with the tragedy that has just taken place. tank arrives, and Joshua gets to ride in it until he is reunited with his mother.ĭirectors use special effects to draw attention of the viewers but since Life is Beautiful relied on realistic approach Benigni uses very few special FX to get his point across. The next day, Joshua emerges from his hiding place to find an empty camp. However, Guido is captured by guards and killed. Guido is able to protect his son and, as the camp is being cleared out, asks him to hide so that his father can find Dora. Guido convinces his son that the entire camp is being run as a game of which the winner receives a real tank. Then eventually turns out that Guido is Jewish, and he and his son are sent to a concentration camp Dora refuses to separate and is deported with them. A few years pass, Guido and Dora have married and had a son, Joshua. Guido’s clownish charm eventually wins Dora away from her odious fiancé. In the meantime he works in a hotel with his uncle and courts a school teacher named Dora. Set against the stark reality of World War II, Guido and Ferruccio travel from the country to the city in order to get jobs but Guido actually hopes to open a bookstore.
This film won the Oscar not only for Best Foreign Film, but Nicola Piovani won for the Best Original Dramatic Score and Robert Benigni won the Best Actor Award. Nicoletta Braschi casted as Guido’s wife Dora, Giorgio Cantarini as Giosue, Giustino Durano as Uncle Eliseo made it as if they were living the roles, and also other actors/actresses include: Sergio Bini Bustric as Ferruccio, Marissa Paredes as Dora’s mother and Horst Buchholz as Doctor Lessing. This film showcased an excellent portrayal of Guido by Robert Benigni, as a husband and as a father which made it ‘moving’ and inspiring. Benigni’s acting is terrific and believable. It is about how far a father will go to love and protect his family from the horror of the Nazis. Robert Benigni’s touching but tragic film “Life is Beautiful” released on 20 th of December, 1997 in Italy is not exactly about the horrors of the Holocaust, instead, it briefly explores those elements, but never to the point where they can hit any of that ultimate tragedy. It issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper.” – Thomas Carlyle. A quote that best describes the jolliness that Guido shown in spite of misfortune he encountered. “True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart. The first half is chocolate and the other half is wasabi since it seems to be two-in-one film because of its comedic and dramatic content. One can go on forever describing the creativity of this movie, but one will not be able to capture all its beauty in writing.Have you ever wondered what a film would look and taste like if they were food? I think Robert Benigni’s sentimental fable would be a double-flavored donut.
You get exhausted just watching him going through his painful day and yet you smile as he speaks to his son and makes him laugh. Life is really beautiful as you watch Guido's relentless efforts to make a lovely exciting experience of the concentration camp to his son. This portrayed the nazi 'state of mind' (if ever such an expression existed) as a sick mentally disturbed state. Despite that, the movie does not fail to point out an element of the nazi psychology demonstrated by the doctor who was obsessed with riddles. The realism of the movie is not its strong point, but then again it is not supposed to be this helps in bringing the audiences to a state of mind away from reality, focusing on the feelings generated by forgetting about all external events and developments of the war. No such piece of art has ever before combined laughter and tears of sadness in me before and that is the miracle of the movie. The holocaust provides the ultimate context, that brings and highlights the story and adds yet another deep dimension to the movie. After watching it, I found that it has less to do with the Holocaust and more to do with the human feelings and the beautiful relationship of a father and his son. This is one of those movies that have a lasting effect on you.