Why it is engaging
- It is a comedy which can grab the audience's attention so they won't be bored by the movie.
- This shows a giant holocaust experience because in some parts of the first point of the movie, there were people doing the Nazi salute.
- In a concentration camp, it is supposed to be horrible but Guido still tricks Joshua that this is a game.
- A big romance story
- A Jews' perspective
- A Holocaust movie that has some humor which is not supposed to be.
- We know that Joshua saved his own life because he doesn't want to take a shower (or being gassed and killed in the POW camps)
The character in ‘Life is Beautiful’ has very successfully represented the holocaust experience in an engaging and unique way. The holocaust is often thought as a human tragedy and yet the movie is called "Life is Beautiful". The engaging part of the movie is that Guido has a different perspective to life even though he was suffering from persecution. The perspective is that he has a very positive way and that he always looks to the good things in life. The movie is also very unique because the holocaust is built upon a romantic story. Guido and his wife Dora were deeply in love with each other that they never let themselves fall apart. During the holocaust when people are married to Jews, they may not care about their husband or wife when they were taken away but in the movie, Dora did care about her husband and son and so she went to the concentration camp with them even though she was not a Jew. In the movie is full of symbolism. For example, in the scene where the German was talking about the rules of the concentration camp and getting the main character (Guido) to translate, the opened door was used as a dividing line between Guido and the German soldier. This symbolizes that the German and the Jew are different races; another important symbol is that on each side, there is a soldier. The soldier over in the Jew's side is small and the soldier on the German's side is big. This symbolizes that the German's have more power over the Jews or otherwise known as "the superior race". This is another example of how the characters represent the Holocaust in a unique way.
This movie is from a Jew's experience and point of view. From a Jews point of view, it is full of emotions and feelings and that’s why the movie is so engaging. A concentration camp is a prison for Jews and that it is where they will also get executed (gas chambers). But Guido is still trying to make his son (Joshua) happy by saying that this is all a game and that first prize is a tank. This shows Guido’s love for his son and Guido’s positive life, he would not give up making Joshua happy and that he would not cry. Luckily, Joshua still played with his father and everything was lucky for both of them. Such as this ‘willpower’ that Guido uses to get Joshua out of trouble and out of his death. Guido was killed but Joshua was reunited with his mother at the end (and he rode on a tank). Joshua even said when he was older “this was the gift my father sacrificed for me." This is a very touching part of the movie. Finally, this movie is also a comedy when the main character started to behave and speak in ways that make the audience laugh. Therefore, his actions mostly end up humiliating the German characters in the movie, symbolizing the main character, and ridiculing the holocaust and the Nazi's. The holocaust was cold blooded and costed the life of millions but in the movie, they did not show the scenes of both executions (gas chambers and Guido being shot) by doing that, it shows that the audience would not see the execution before their very eyes. These are all the reasons why the movie characters represent and engage a unique presentation of the Holocaust experience.
