Life Is Beautiful
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Life Is Beautiful
In view of the long, stretched out holiday before me, I decided to take things into my own hands. Dying from absolute boredom is surely not an option for me, which was why I made the journey down to the nearest DVD rental store to rent movies. Everything from the latest action movies to the classics in the 1950s, from the most abstract of films to a foreign film - everything. I wonder if ripping these movies into the computer is considered as being illegal, but I hardly care for it any longer. This is going to be my way of killing the boredom bug, and nobody is going to stop me at home anyway, me being home alone for the next week. The first movie I picked out from the pile to watch was Life is Beautiful, an italian film by director Roberto Benigni, whose recent efforts have either failed miserably, or failed miserably. If one were to judge this director's ability based on his current films, nobody would have guessed that he made such a beautiful piece of artistry like Life is Beautiful. This sort of reminds me of Francis Ford Coppola, who hasn't had a decent film for more than ten years.
In view of the long, stretched out holiday before me, I decided to take things into my own hands. Dying from absolute boredom is surely not an option for me, which was why I made the journey down to the nearest DVD rental store to rent movies. Everything from the latest action movies to the classics in the 1950s, from the most abstract of films to a foreign film - everything. I wonder if ripping these movies into the computer is considered as being illegal, but I hardly care for it any longer. This is going to be my way of killing the boredom bug, and nobody is going to stop me at home anyway, me being home alone for the next week. The first movie I picked out from the pile to watch was Life is Beautiful, an italian film by director Roberto Benigni, whose recent efforts have either failed miserably, or failed miserably. If one were to judge this director's ability based on his current films, nobody would have guessed that he made such a beautiful piece of artistry like Life is Beautiful. This sort of reminds me of Francis Ford Coppola, who hasn't had a decent film for more than ten years.
Labeled as the 'national treasure of Italy', it is not difficult to see why Roberto Benigni has such a title. Not only did he direct this movie, he also wrote the movie and acted in the leading role as Guido Orefice, the Italian waiter who falls in love with the woman of his dreams, played by his real-life wife, Nicholetta Braschi. But this love became forbidden from the very start, because this woman was slated to marry her childhood sweetheart, and Guido's arch enemy at the very same time. Through different ways and means, we see Guido trying to win her heart with his strange and eclectic methods. The couple eventually falls in love and had a son together, but it was the wrong place and the wrong time for this loving family as the Nazism ideology reached into the towns of Italy faster than a plague.
In the beginning of the film, we see the love of Guido and Dora slowly blossom with time, but it was also heartbreaking to see the reality of things setting into their lives. The Jews were being ushered onto crowded trains and being sent into concentration camps and eventually to their deaths. But Guido is a smart guy, a man who can solve riddles in a matter of minutes when his friend - who is a professor - takes a week on average to do so. He was determined to create an illusion for his young son Joshua, to veil the truth of life and transform it into a sort of game that they are playing. With his quick wit and humor, we see how Guido lies to his son just so that he won't freak out in the concentration camps. Everything the German soldiers did became a game or a joke somehow, and the life in the concentration camps became a game to earn points. The top prize? A real tank, according to Guido as he tried to convince his son about the reality of things. Of course, we all know that the Jews were forced into labor and then the gas chambers eventually, but his son didn't know that. Guido just wanted to protect his son, and it was charming and delightful to see how he does it in the film.
Many have criticized the director of this movie, and his comedic take on the topic of holocaust throughout the film. To a lot of people out there, they felt that this movie wasn't an accurate portrayal of the actual events of the holocaust, and the comedic elements infused in this movie was simply inappropriate and outrageous. Personally, I felt that the comedic elements were what make this movie stood out from all the others, especially the ones that are related to the holocaust. The plot revolved mostly around how Guido's son saw the holocaust, and the plot itself couldn't have been more accurate, because that was the illusion his father created for him. This movie is perhaps the polar opposite from Schindler's List, a movie that gives you the raw and unedited version of what happened during the holocaust. In this movie, it was probably an attempt to show how humor and some imagination can conquer even the hardest and harshest of times, and it can also become a reason for one to survive.
It was hilarious, especially in the scene when they were first being thrown into the detention barracks, and a German soldier stepped into the room to explain the rules of the camp. He first asked if anybody knew German, and Guido stepped forth without knowing a single word at all. So he became the translator for the German officer, and twisted his instructions to his own favor and changing them into the rules of his own point gathering game. Of course, in the course of the game we have a lot of close calls along the way. Joshua found out about how the Germans were turning people into buttons in the gas chambers, and then how he was almost caught by the German waiter for speaking in Italian instead of German. But Guido was there every step of the way to get his son out of trouble, which goes to show the power of love really overwhelms even the darkest of times.
It is always difficult to review a comedy, because I suppose it is hard to tell someone how funny a movie is without giving away some of the jokes. This movie is a different movie in the sense that, it blends comedy and romance so well into the same medium, and not to mention how it brings along the heavy issue of holocaust as well as the love of a family into its context. It is a comedy essentially - because it is so funny - but at the same time it has a message to tell its audience, and that is the fact that a lot of things survive the toughest of times, as mentioned before. The title of the movie, according to Roberto Benigni, was inspired by a letter written by Leon Trotsky while he was in exile in Mexico. Stalin sent his assassins to come after him, and while he was in his home in hiding, he saw his wife in the gardens through the window, and from there he wrote the following words "In spite of everything, life is beautiful". And life is - indeed - beautiful.
This is definitely a movie everybody should watch, at least once. It is one of those movies I'd say to others," If you haven't watched this movie, then you haven't really lived." I believe that it is that good, and it is probably something I'd look forward to viewing again in the days to come. After all, this movie has a very timeless quality to it, something classical about the way it was filmed. It could have been filmed in black and white, and then thrown back into the 1950s, and nobody would have noticed the difference. That is probably Roberto's greatest achievement for the film, to craft a film that is both timely and timeless. I am glad that this film is currently a quarter of the way across the Pacific Ocean, on its way to become part of my collection. Before that happens, I am going to have to catch up on the other films that I have ripped. Now, Blood Diamond, anyone?
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on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 2:16 PM.
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4:21 PM
Loved this film. I laughed and cried.