Inspiring

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 1999)

Life is Beautiful. Not once in the movie did those words get said. And that's just another defining point of what I took away from this film. Everything that was to be said, every message in this movie was not conveyed through brilliant speeches, touching confessions, or other verbal acts. I believed everything I saw in this movie. And the reason for that was, because every thought, every idea, every feeling was not told through straight conversation, it was shown through actions. By the time Guido was getting on the P.a. System, I had forgotten about Dora. I had passed her off as another faceless victim of the Holocaust. Those thoughts prepared me for what is probably the greatest scene ever shown on film. I don't think I've ever cried because I was so happy and touched (I'm 15 years old, and a guy, far too concerned about masculinity and other such things), but I was bawling. I felt ready to be a father, to just try to emulate the love that Guido held for his wife and child. This movie isn't about the Holocaust. The fact that the family was a victim of it is just a plot point. It's not trying to make some touching social commentary about families staying together through the thick of every problem that could roll their way, it's not trying to say something about the sheer hilarity of the Holocaust. It's simply trying to tell a story about a man who loves his family. This movie inspires me daily. This movie has changed my life.