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Actors: Roberto Benigni, Giorgio Cantarini, Nicoletta Braschi
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Life Is Beautiful |
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Guido, a Jewish waiter in 1930's Italy, manages a successful romance with the help of his love of life and wacky sense of humor, even though the woman of his dreams -- a schoolteacher in a neighboring Tuscany town -- is engaged to someone else. Five years later, Guido and his little boy end up in a Nazi death camp, and he must call on those same skills for a very different purpose: survival itself. To keep his boy's morale up, the father tells him they are in a big game, and the grand prize for winning is a tank.
--Landon R., Resident Scholar
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Guido, a lovable Jewish Itailian goes to Rome to work as a waiter in his Uncle's Hotel. Several times he runs into a beautiful non-Jewish school teacher who is called Dora. He wins her heart by surprising her several times and greating her "Bonjourno Pricesipesse!" or in English "Goodmorning Princess!". They marry even though Dora is already engaged to a city offical. Several years later they have a son with the name of Joshua. On Joshua's birthday Guido and Joshua are kidnapped by the Nazis and placed into concentration camps. They are followed by Dora who tries to keep the family in one piece. This movie turns from a romantic comedy into a struggle of survival. In the secong half Guido does all that he can to save his son and wife from death by the Nazis. What makes this film so loveable is that almost everything that Guido wants to happen, actually does happen.
--Kyle, Resident Scholar
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Roberto Begnini does a brilliant job of touching our emotions when the central characters - a Jewish man and his wife and young son - are placed in a Concentration Camp. Wanting to shield his son from the reality of the Nazis' concentration camp atrocities, including separation from the little boy's mother, the father tells his son that they and the Nazis are playing an elaborate game. In the midst of the struggle to merely survive, the father is surviving and making his son (and the audience) laugh with his eccentric sillyness.
--Sarah Kelley, Resident Scholar
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Guido is an aspiring waiter who goes to Rome to work in his uncle's restaurant. There he meets the beautiful Dora, who he instantly falls in love with. Through many ways he plans to see her, by greeting her with a happy "Bonjorno Princessa". After he finally seduces her heart, they get married and have a son called Giosue. Now the day is unpleasant with the Nazis taking over Italy. After they are sent to a concentration camp, Guido decides to hide the horrors of it all by pretending it is all a game. In the end, the winner gets a tank. This film is wonderfully split into two parts. The first part concerns Guido wooing Dora, and the second part is about the holocaust. Benigni co-writes an incredible script, and is amazing as Guido.
--Estefan Ellison, Resident Scholar
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Guido Orefice, a Jewish waiter in 1930s Italy, manages a successful romance with the help of his love of life and wacky sense of humor, even though the woman of his dreams -- a schoolteacher in a neighboring Tuscany town -- is engaged to someone else. Five years later, Guido and his little boy end up in a Nazi death camp, and he must call on those same skills for a very different purpose: survival itself. To keep his boy's spirits up, the father tells him they are in a big game, and the grand prize for winning is a tank. Benigni, coauthor, director, and star, uses a lot of slapstick humor (and acknowledges a debt by putting the same number on his prison uniform as Chaplin had in "The Great Dictator"). This 1997 film, which might be taken as a metaphor for how art and artifice help humans to survive and prosper, won Best Actor, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Original Dramatic Music Score Oscars.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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A jewish man living in italy during the second world war falls in love with a non-jewish women. These two get married and have a child named joshua. Just as the war is ending the two males get taken away to concentration camps where they are to be executed and the wife/mother follows not wanting to seperate. This is a film about love and sacrafice for the protection of those you love.
--Erin B, Resident Scholar
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The first half of this film merrily leads you down a road of light, fluffy
comedy. Then, with little warning, it seamlessly melds into an intense and
deeply moving tale of a father's love for his wife and son, all held
prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Yet through it all, it never looses
its comic underpinnings. It would have been so easy for this odd and daring
approach to be a disaster, but director, co-author and star Roberto Benigni
has created one of the most
touching films ever made. Jerry Lewis's 1972 film The Day
the Clown Cried, shunned by critics and public alike (although it's
never been seen by any of them), is based on a similar premise, but it's
locked in Lewis's vault, unreleased. Life is Beautiful is testament that
Lewis's unseen yet ridiculed film is a legitimate premise, and as far as
anybody knows, could well be a great movie. Although it's doubtful it could
equal the flawless masterpiece that is Life is Beautiful.
--Pilliard Dickle, Resident Scholar
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A bubbling man, Guido, falls in love with a school, teacher, sweeps her off her feet, and begins a life full of happiness and laughter. This life is interrupted when the fascist Italian government in partnerhip with the Nazis begins exterminating all Italian Jews with only months left of the war. Now, Guido most find a way to save his wife and son froms the horrors of the concentration camp.
--megan, Resident Scholar
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A unique and quirky look into an Italian Jew's life and his plan to 'survive' in the Nazi concentration camp during World War2 with the first priority of protecting his son.
--Jenny, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Life Is Beautiful |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1930's-1950's
War impact on civilians/veterans
Yes
Kind of conflict:
- holocaust
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- small businessman
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Body type
- (man) very skinny
Events of movie makes character more...
- caring
- sad
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Italian
- Jewish
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
How much in movie?
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Jewish
Main Adversary
- German
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Italy
- Germany
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting
- prison
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- Italian
Subtitles?
- Yes
Any profanity?
- None
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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