A unique take on tragedy

Rating: 8/10 (2 February 2018)

Life is Beautiful combines the innocence and optimism of a child with the pure tragedy and despair of the Holocaust, creating a unique and controversial feeling of bittersweet happiness. This film brought normalcy to the events experienced by millions in very subtle ways. One prime example is having Guido attend the children's class. The main purpose of the scene was to have the protagonist surprise Dora, as he does throughout the movie. At the same time, we gain an insightful, and historically accurate depiction of how the youth were brainwashed into thinking that Aryan race is superior. The director does this in a way so that it feels as though this behavior is normal. He presents it, initially, as a simple school speaker for kids, but we soon see it is more heinous than that. Another scene which stands out to me in particular is when Guido confronts Dottor Lessing inside the camp. The director gives us the expectation that this man is good and will save him, but only disappointing us greatly by having Lessing entirely ignoring his situation. This is a great representation of the social schizophrenia that many guards and workers carried while inside camps. These men and women separated their private lives entirely from their public lives, resulting in good people who do terrible things. In this scene, Lessing ignores Guido's circumstances, and treats him as if he is still a part of his own personal life. This may seem as though Lessing suffers from some mental disorder where he is desensitized to all things, however, this is very normal. The one major flaw I had with this film was the ending. The film reunites the child with the mother and they live happily ever after. Although the unification of a mother and child of that age after the Holocaust is incredibly unlikely, it is not the flaw with it. Life was not so easy for survivors of the genocide. They were forced back into traditional society with incredibly minor buffers (six months of welfare cash), and very little emotional support from the community as a whole. Life is not happily ever after. It is the beginning of a new challenge that thousands must face.