Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful

The Holocaust was a distressing time in history and is not a story everyone can absorb. Both the book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas written by John Boyne and the film, Life is Beautiful, directed by Robert Benigni, are based upon the real life events of the Holocaust but with a difference. They made clever use of different techniques to dim and censor the reality of the events and interpret it in a more tolerable way. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas depicts the life of a young nine year old boy named Bruno who is the son of the Commandant of the Auschwitz

The lighting being used is side lighting. There’s a brighter side to the room that reflects on one side of the characters’ faces. The lighting helps explain that they are in dark times in their lives. It helps the audience see how Amelia’s sleep deprived that is shown earlier throughout the movie that she couldn’t wake up after her alarm rung. She struggled to get out of her bed and she put the alarm on snooze. The frame composition is tight framing that reflects a mother and her son hugging her, but how uncomfortable the moment is.

     ?Life Is Beautiful? shows one family?s experience in the concentration camp. Benigni makes the audience fall in love with the main character in the beginning by letting them see the way his life was and how truly happy he was. He shows him falling in love with a Christian woman and having an upbeat, curious little boy. By doing this, the audience experiences the sadness that the characters felt in the movie when they are separated. The audience feels sad when his Christian wife is separated from her family even though she wasn?t supposed to be at the camp in the first place. They also feel fear when his son has to hide every day from the Jews so that he won?t be taken to the furnace. At the end of the movie, when

The movie, Life is Beautiful, demonstrates another relationship between a father and his son. This duo is also put through the horrors of the concentration camps. Being outgoing

Life can be very beautiful. In contrast, life for many people during World War 2 was not so beautiful. During this time, the world was at war. Gladly, during all the madness, in 1945 innocent people broke free, and concentration camps were liberated. The film Life is Beautiful, Guido demonstrated the three qualities; Inherent thoughtfulness and emotionality, expressive coherence, and wholeness and unity.

Light is usually associated with the image of happiness while the opposite, dark, is associated with the image of evil and loneliness. I believe that this is true in almost all cases. However, Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet is filled with oppositions and contrasts; one of the most significant and repeated motifs is this contrast between light and dark. These images of light and dark are used to describe a character as well as set the scene.

In Elie’s story, it mostly focuses on his view and what is happening just to him. “During the alert, I had followed the mob, not taking care of him. I knew he was running out of strength, so close to death, and yet I had abandoned him.” (page 106) said Elie. Elie started to only think about himself and not his loved ones. While Life is Beautiful shows what happens to all of the characters. Elie’s story begins very close to the beginning of the Holocaust, Guido’s story before the Holocaust takes up half of the movie.

When people look at two extremely different stories such as Night and Life is Beautiful, they would not expect there to be many similarities. However, these two devastating tales are more alike than suspected. Both Night and Life is Beautiful may be two accounts of the holocaust, but that does not mean that they bring the same thing to the table. They both may include a somewhat similar father-son relationship, yet they still aren’t that same. Night, a tragic memoir of Eliezer Wiesel, and Life is Beautiful, a humorous and still somewhat depressing movie of Guido and his family, have numerous similarities as well as drastic differences between them.

Benigni uses lighting in order to emphasize love through hard times throughout the film of ‘Life is beautiful’. The light which is distributed throughout the film brings the emotions

Cuarón has used many different criteria of mise-en-scene to help viewers see his message, and the use of lighting in this scene was no exception. The way the director uses the lighting in the miracle cease fire scene portrays different emotions and sends the message that things will end up okay. Light is a know symbol for hope, and the way the Alfonso uses lighting at the start of the scene and at the building itself shows that it is a gloomy and hazardous place due to the war and violence happening. However, as the scene progress at 0:14 the lighting is on Theo and Kee carrying the baby, it also lights up when all the other occupants of the building are looking at the child as it is a ray of hope during all the hard times the people are having. Another example of when the lighting is used to emphasize the hope in the new born child is at 1:15 as the lighting from the window above is focused on Theo and Kee again as all the soldiers come in a stop to see the child. Even in the mast of war and death people are stopping to see the baby as it gives hope for a new beginning, so there will be a meaning to the lives of the people. Besides lighting, Caurón also uses different camera angles to help portray his idea of hope in the movie.

Life is Beautiful (1997), an Italian comedic drama set in 1939, tells the tale of Guido, a young Jewish man living during the time of World War II, the film follows Guido and his family; from when they were happy living freely to when they are forced to work unfairly in concentration camps. Directed by Roberto Benigni, also known for Pinocchio (2002), Life is Beautiful portrays many important themes and messages to the audience. Benigni shows the importance of bravery in the film, through cinematic techniques including camera angles, lighting, and sound.

A technique used to convey themes in Life is Beautiful is the use of lighting. In the ending scene of the film, lighting is used to show how beauty can be found even when it seemed that all hope was lost. Throughout the second half of the film, the setting is constantly dark. The room where Guido sleeps with the other inmates only has a few small windows, and the bunks are always in shadow (1:19:59-1:21:23). A scene where Dora is sorting out clothes (1:14:33-1:15:02) is set in a dim courtyard with grey walls and peeling paint. These settings give the audience a sense that the conditions are bad and morale is low. By contrast, the ending is incredibly lighthearted. As Joshua rides in the procession of vehicles (1:47:23-1:47:44), the sun is shining, bathing everything in a happy yellowish light. Additionally, the tanks and surrounding landscape are bright green whereas the concentration camps were devoid of colour. This is a beautiful ending to a not so beautiful occurrence.

Many elements of the film Life is Beautiful can compare to the Bible. For example, Guido, the main character, acts as a Christ figure in that he saves his son, Joshua from the evils of the Holocaust. Another example that compares with the Bible is the tank that is promised to Joshua. Finally, Guido’s death eventually saves Joshua from his own death. Such examples in the movie are comparable to examples in the Bible.

The theme of this movie suggests mortality, which concerns the distinction of doing bad or good behaviors. Mortality shows us that life is fragile. This idea makes us question our purpose in life. An example is one of the most famous philosophers named Socrates, who had developed a Socratic method to ask questions about our assumptions and to stimulate critical thinking of what is right and wrong. He makes us reason through our opinions and beliefs to narrow down the truth.

Ever since the Holocaust happened there has been a variety of movies and books portraying this massive genocide that changed individuals’ lives. One of these movies that portrays the Holocaust is Life is Beautiful that was directed and acted by Roberto Benigni in 1997. This particular film won Oscar awards and it’s unlike any other Holocaust movies because of its drama, romance, and comedic genre. It tells the story of a man named Guido that comes to Arezzo, Italy and works as a waiter for his uncle Eliseo. Guido falls in love with Dora, a school teacher who he calls “Princess” each time he sees her. Eventually, Guido is able to charm Dora despite her being engaged. Five years later they have a son named Giosuè, but at this point in time