Life lessons you could learn from “Life is Beautiful” (1997) dir. by Roberto Benigni
The first time I saw “Life is Beautiful” was way back in 10th grade, as part of a “Movie Appreciation Club” that I was a part of.
Of all the movies that were screened in over 30 different sessions — and mind you all these were hand picked movies directed by the likes of Hitchcock, Spielberg and so on, this hit me on another level.
Tenth grade here is a significant point to stress on because this movie revolved around the “Holocaust”, a theme that we had just studied about as part of our history lessons. So you could say that I knew what was going on in the movie when people walked into shower areas and stuff.
So fast forward to today, 4 years after I had first watched this movie, I managed to get my hands on a copy of it, and as soon as I did, I had to watch it.
The plot of the movie is simple. Based on a book titled “In the End, I beat Hitler”, it is about a Jew waiter, Guido, who dreams of opening a bookshop in then Italy, who quite literally sweeps an Aryan German woman, Dora, off her feet by. The first half of the movie is about how this cheeky romance unfolds. Every time Guido crosses and meets Dora, he says “Buongiorno Principessa!”, just to let her know how much he loves her. If you thought “OK Kanmani” or “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” was cute, “Life is Beautiful” beats it by a mile! The two have a child, a son, and all seemed to go well until one day, it didn’t anymore.
The rest of the movie unfolds how the father protects his young and very innocent son by painting the entire concentration camp experience as a game so that everything from the food shortages to the marking and branding is explained as necessary for participation, which if they manage to last, would win them a “tank”.
I wouldn’t spoil anymore of the movie for you, it definitely is a movie you have to watch! But this movie does teach us some very important lessons that we could use in the dystopian times we live in today.
Despite anti-semantic rules and attitudes, Guido wants to show that life really is beautiful by his relentless efforts to make an exciting experience of the entire concentration to his son. It pains you to see how he gets through his days and yet you smile as he makes his son laugh.
This movie will take you through a roller coaster of emotions and in the end, you do realise, “La Vita è Bella”.
