LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

 

FOUR STARS - Inspiring

 

 

        Using humor as a weapon to defeat evil has been taken to new levels in the Italian film, “Life is Beautiful.”   Written and directed by its star, Roberto Benigni, this film with English subtitles is a comic masterpiece of courage and love.

        Understanding the soul of the clown, Benigni writes a unique tale which lauds the power of love and humor to conquer the many challenges of life, from marrying the person of one’s dreams to withstanding the chilling hatred of racist fascism.

        Set within the 1940’s in World War II Italy, Benigni creates a character who is as unlikely a lover as he is a hero.  Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni) is a thin, homely young Jewish man who has learned to transform his deficits into assets through the power of laughter.

        This tactic is first seen when he and his brother Ferruccio (Sergio Bini Bustric) are on a dangerous down-hill journey in a car with no brakes.  Instead of a catastrophe, the brothers are mistakenly hailed as king and they end up at the farm of a beautiful young woman named Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) who just happens to fall into Guido’s arms.  Making a joke about their meeting, Guido disarms the young woman and endears her to him.

        The next day, the spell continues when they once more coincidentally collide as Guido is attempting to flee from a man who turns out to be Dora’s unwanted fiance.  Again and again through these opening and wonderfully timed scenes of romantic encounters, Guido uses humor to charm Dora into becoming his wife.

        This use of humor in charming the most beautiful woman into marrying him is classic comedy because it personifies the dream of every person who has become a clown in order to be noticed.  The power of humor to bring about love is beautifully presented through these scenes.

        When Guido and Dora have been married for only a few years and have a four year old little boy, the Nazi soldiers imprison Guido and his son, Giosue (Giorgio Cantanni), and prepare to take them by rail to a concentration camp.  Dora, realizing what has happened, requests to go with them although she is Italian and not Jewish.

        It is at this point that the film takes on a new depth of meaning showing a courage equal to the valor of the characters within the film.   For Benigni goes into the middle of the horror of the death camp with only the power of love and the illusive ability of humor to fight for their lives.  Realizing that his son’s spirit will be as damaged as his body by the evil of the camp, Guido decides to protect his young son from the horror by convincing him that the whole experience is just a huge game and, if he plays well, he will win what he has always wanted: a real army tank.

        In an intense moment, when the Nazi officer enters the barracks to explain the rules of the camp to the new prisoners, Guido quickly volunteers to interpret his German into Italian.  It is a brilliant and courageous move, equaled only by the depth of humor we experience as Guido, who does not know German, matches the harsh inflections of the Nazi officer’s words while making up rules to the game he has convinced his son they are playing. 

        The power of the moment is compelling.  Realizing as viewers that these two vulnerable creatures have been caught in a net of horrendous forces, we laugh at the attempt and marvel at the courage as this father proceeds to protect his child in the only way he knows how.  We find ourselves laughing not so much at the comedy as with the comedian as we begin to grasp the meaning of his actions.

        There are those who say Benigni is lessening the horror of the death camps by making them a backdrop for his comedy.  We disagree.  The power of the film is in the message that the courage of love and laughter in the face of ultimate evil calls to a power which can give life where death seems to be the only option.  Similar to prayer which raises the person from the immediacy of the situation to a larger realm, comedy restores the humanity of an inhumane experience and lifts us out of its grasp.

        Though the task of keeping up the illusion of the game becomes increasingly difficult, the ingenuity of Guido is also inspiring.  Knowing that his wife is on the other side of the camp and worrying about the safety of her son as well as him, he risks his life to both speak to her over the loud speaker and play her favorite song out a window.  The awareness that it is her soul that needs encouragement in that place of despair is the motivation of his risking his life to do so.

        “Life is Beautiful” portrays a courage that not only keeps a child protected in the midst of unbelievable horror, but is also able to retain the humanity of father, mother and son in doing so.  The inhumane conditions of the Nazi concentration camps provide the vehicle by which Benigni presents his inspiring message that love conquers evil and humor preserves our humanity.

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