Life is Beautiful

Life is Beautiful

La vita è bella

This wonderful film starts out following the antics of Guido Orefice, an Italian Jew, as he begins courting a young woman named Dora, who is unwillingly betrothed to another man. Guido uses his humor and well-placed greetings of his “principessa” to charm her and whisk her away.

As Guido and Dora are raising their little boy, Giosué, political tensions rise for Jews and non-Fascists. During the boy’s birthday party, Guido and his son are arrested by German officers and taken to a concentration camp to work and be killed. Much to Guido’s distress, Dora (who was not a Jew) insists that she be taken along with her family.

Throughout their internment at separate male and female camps, Guido uses his wit this time to keep the truth of the situation from his son. He tells him they are playing an elaborate game in which there are strict rules that they must follow in order to win. Throughout this “game,” Giosué becomes convinced that he must remain hidden from the Germans, not cry, and not ask for food. The winner gets the first prize, a real version of Giosué's favorite toy, a tank.

When the war is over, the Germans scramble to gather up those remaining in the camp and kill them before the Americans come. Guido sneaks about with his son, desperately looking for Dora. He hides Giosué in a junction box and tells him that this is the final round of the game and everyone is looking for him. He must not come out of the junction box until everyone is gone and there is no noise outside.

Guido franticly searches for his wife, eventually giving his position away in trying to save her. Guido is taken and led back into an alley to be shot, but not before he passes his son’s hiding place. He sends his son one last wink, as if it’s still a game, before he is killed.

Giosué remain hidden until all sounds have stopped, faithful to his fathers command. He finally emerges from his box to find no one around. He hears a low rumbling in the distance and out from behind a building comes an American tank. Giosué is overjoyed. The game was real! He won the tank!

The American in the tank takes the boy and lets him ride on the tank as they drive past all the other freed refugees. Giosué spots his mother and shouts to her. He jumps down and runs to her. The film closes as they are in each other’s arms.

The film begins and ends with narration saying, “This is a simple story... but not an easy one to tell.” In the beginning we are led to believe that the narrator is Guido, but by the end it is revealed that Giosué was actually telling the story of his father years later.

Interestingly, the film was co-written and directed by the same actor who played Guido, Roberto Benigni. Benigni wrote the story from the experiences his own father had in a concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen.

It may seem odd at first glance to combine comedy with holocaust horror, but Benigni executes this combination beautifully. The film provides an honest and emotional look at the terrible conditions of a concentration camp through the eyes of a surprisingly optimistic man exemplifying the depth of true fatherhood.