Life is Beautiful!

Okay, I don't know where I've been for the last 8 years, but apparently I've missed (probably because of my own stupidity) one of the best, if not the best film ever created. I love good movies; especially ones that make us think and bring out human characteristics that are admirable.

Life is Beautiful is one of those films. This film stars and is directed by Roberto Benigni and highlights a father's love and to what great lengths a father will go to protect his child from pain and suffering. It is an amazing film filled with an unusual mixture of slap-stick comedy and serious social issues like the Holocaust.

The film is really divided into two parts: the first where Guido (played by Benigni) falls in love with a school teacher, named Dora (played by Benigni's real wife, Nicoletta Braschi). It is a true romance story where Guido literally woos this woman and her love. Through imagination and his genuine witty personality Guido is able to convince Dora that he is the love of her life. The second half of the film is where you should break out the tissue.

It is here that Guido and his son, Joshua, are taken away to a concentration camp. But here's the kicker! While most films would turn to the more serious, dramatic portrayal of a Nazi death camp, Benigni decides to mix in comedy with tragedy. It is something that only a few can do and it is apparent that Charlie Chaplin was somebody that Benigni studied and patterned much of his thoughts on.

Dora follows Guido and Joshua, demanding to be put on the train with them to the camp (although they really never get to be in each other's company, but only seeing each other from a distance). Guido, through several bitter-sweet scenes, is able to convince his son that this is all a great game that he has gotten them into in order to earn 1000 points to win a real tank. Joshua believes and is able to follow every command his father tells him in order to keep out of sight and literally be saved through this whole ordeal.

I don't want to give much of the film away (and I am about to give the ending away - so be warned!), and so I will only focus on one part that really stuck out to me. In a previous, early scene, Joshua and Guido are in the bookstore that he owns. Fascist policemen come by and take Guido away for more rounds of interrogating. Guido tells Joshua that everything will be okay and he will be back in a little while. Joshua walks outside and looks on as his dad is being escorted down the sidewalk. Guido looks back at his son, winks, and begins to do a Nazi goose step in order to relieve some of Joshua's anxiety. Little did I know, that would be the very same act that would help save Joshua's life.

This scene, which comes near the end, is classic and will probably be one of those lasting images that will stick with you awhile. As the father is being marched off to be shot behind a building, Guido keeps the "act" going by marching by the box that his son is hiding in and does this comic goose step in order to convey to the son that this is all part of the game. He does this so the son will stay in the box and be saved. Joshua has been told not to come out until he can't hear the bad men anymore. While Guido marches by his eyes fall on his son's and he winks to which Joshua winks back, and all this is happens while Guido does the goose step. Joshua giggles inside the box not realizing that his father is about to die. The only think I could think was: what a great sacrifice! In fact, this is the line spoken at the end of the film. The grown-up Joshua says, “This is my story. This is the sacrifice my father made. This was his gift to me.”

This is where I would go into the comparisons I see with this father and our heavenly Father, but somebody else has already done that. Giedrus Saulytis says: “So, the whole film is a personal story by which a son gives tribute to his father for the sacrifice he made. In this respect the story is very Christian. In the Gospels, it is the Son who makes the ultimate sacrifice for humanity in order to fulfill the will of the Father. Guido's resolve to protect his child from the burning furnace may be seen as the reflection of heavenly Father's love and care to save his fallen creatures from fires of hell. As Guido's care reminds us about our heavenly Father's love, so his death reminds about the death of Jesus for those whom he loved. Emphasis on self-sacrifice can be seen not only in the farther-son's relations but also in Dora's attitude. Dora, not Jewish, would be spared by the Fascists, but she insists on coming along to be with her husband and child. Thus, love is what binds this family together and gives strength in the darkest hour.”

If you haven't seen this film, don't rent it! Buy it! May we also have this kind of sacrifice that Jesus had. "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13)