Life is Beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 2013)

The movie Life is Beautiful directed by Roberto Benigni is a story about a joyful, Italian Jewish man named Guido who is played by Roberto Benigni who starts a family with a beautiful women named Dora who is played by Nicoletta Braschi and they have a son named Joshua who is played by Giorgio Cantarini. Then the family because a victim of the holocaust as Guido and Joshua get put on one train and Dora got put on another train. Although conditions at the camp were harsh Guido always tried to stay in a positive mood for his son and even convinces Joshua that the camp is a game where in the end if they win that he would get a real life tank. Roberto Benigni does a great job at making the movie light and humorous in some parts and heartbreaking and emotional in other parts to make this movie truly unpredictable and exciting.
This movie also relates a lot to the story of Maus written by Art Spiegelman which is about a man named Vladek's journey during the Holocaust. Although the two stories are different they both have a theme of the importance of family. In Life is Beautiful Guido was always encouraging Joshua even though there was little to look forward to, and I think Guido being able to come back to his bunk after a brutal day of work and see Joshua's face also helped gets through day by day. Guido was even able to keep Dora's spirits up even though they were separated because in one of the scenes Guido played music out the window to comfort Dora and I believed it helped greatly. In the end Life is Beautiful and Maus are about the importance of a strong family.