Brian Duran-Fuentes Life is Beautiful Theme: Life is Beautiful This film's plot is divided in two halves: In the first

part, we are introduced to Guido Orefice, a oun! Italian "ew who arrives to #re$$o in the ears %efore &orld &ar II to wor' in his uncle's hotel, dreamin! of eventuall openin! his ver own %oo'store( )e meets and falls in love with Dora, a *on"ewsish school teacher who is en!a!ed to a wealth %ureaucrat( *evertheless, Guido's wit and charm turn out successful at stealin! Dora's love, and the two eventuall !et married( The second part of the film occurs a few ears after &&II has %e!un( Guido has fulfilled his dream of ownin! a %oo'store and now has a son with Dora( The latter has !rown apart from her mother due to her marria!e, and while the reconciliation ta'es place, Guido, his son, Giosue, and their uncle +lisieo are forced into a train on its wa to a concentration camp( Determined to share the same destin as her famil , Dora demands to %e ta'en alon! in the same train, and is allowed to do so( #t the camp, Guido mana!es to hide Giosue from the !uards and humor him % convincin! him their sta in the camp is %ut a contest to win a real tan'( Thus, % Guido's lo!ic, the !uards are hostile and the rest of the children have hidden themselves in order to win the pri$e( In face of the utter miser , horror, and desolation of their situation, Guido's fiction is never ,uestioned % Giosue %ecause of his own innocence and his father's adamant humor and optimism( The two mana!e to survive until chaos %rea's loose on account of the #merican advance on the camp( Guido then tells Giosue that the final tas' %efore he wins the tan' is to remain hidden in a sweat%o- until ever one has left( Onl Giosue survives and comes to thin' he has won the !ame when an #merican tan' arrives to li%erate the camp( The film ends as the son is reunited with his mother and an older Giosue narrates the conclusion, servin! as witness of his father's heroic sacrifice( This wonderful film displa s man themes, %ut none as central as the one conve ed % its title: Life is %eautiful( It is a seemin!l -simple idea, %ut one that is masterfull e-plored % the film's author(

The two halves of the movie, thou!h conflicted with each other in terms of their tone and su%.ect, are .ustified in Beni!ni's statement and ensuin! treatment of the narrative( The director ac'nowled!es life in its full, realistic nature, from the moments of .o to those of horror, without compromisin! the conviction of the comedian, the pran'ster, the clown, the archet pe that em%odies the spirit of lau!hter and childli'e wonder amidst the !rimmest of situations( /uch characters are immortal in more than one sense of the word( #s all archet pes, this is a t pe of character that has, and will alwa s %e present in the narratives of all a!es and re!ions of the world( *onetheless, it is also safe to point out that this is the t pe of character that alwa s mana!es to survive to the end of the film( In fiction, it %ecomes almost a sin to 'ill off the clown, since he is a s m%ol of hope and happiness( Therefore, the death of Guido comes to %e not onl a moment of emotive heroism, %ut also the shift of a paradi!m for the sa'e of realism( The se,uence in itself is hauntin!l short and perfectl representative of the conflict %etween the two halves of the movie( The spotli!ht finds Guido attached to a window in a manner that is strai!ht out of a slapstic' comed , and et the music that pla s in the %ac'!round is terri%l serious( The first shot is open and scantl lit, with some of the windows revealin! rooms with the li!hts turned on, %ut devoid of an people( Then the shot cuts to a close view of Guido, still charmin! the audience with his poor dis!uise and clownish movements as the cold shadow of death approaches him( But %efore his e-ecution, another officer interrupts the scene, misleadin! the audience into thin'in! nothin! can happen to our hero( The se,uence continues in dead silence0 near% flames overwhelm the shot with !lare and smo'e as Guido and the officer wal' throu!h the turmoil( *e-t, Guido and Giouse loo' into each other's e es for a final time, and even in the dar'est of moments, when all hope is !one and the end approaches, Guido still win's to his son( # 1O2 shot depicts Guido marchin! pla full throu!h the sweat%o- openin!, and thou!h the intense, serious score 'eeps pla in!, a comical fanfare is still audi%le for a few seconds( In the ensuin! shot, Guido and the officer wal' awa into a dismal alle ( The turn ri!ht, %ut the camera refuses to follow( /ilence and stillness rei!n %efore the inevita%le dischar!e of a

machine !un( 3 opinion of how Benin!ni deals with this central theme definitel favors his audacit and depth( In m e es, Guido is not onl a fictional character, %ut a reflection of real individuals who suffered the horrors of the holocaust, and thou!h their lives were e-tin!uished, still left a le!ac %ehind that %urns ever so %ri!htl ( I particularl thin' of m favorite writer, Bruno /chul$, a 1olish "ew who was e-ecuted in the street % a *a$i officer, sharin! the same fate as Guido, and also sharin! a similar child-li'e wonder preserved in the ma!nificence of his literature, a wor' of art that also screams in its own wa , 4Life is %eautiful5(