Roberto Benigni's 1998 classic 'Life is Beautiful' (La Vita E Bella) is one of the greatest comedies and (an even greater anti-war film) ever made. Set against Nazi holocaust , the movie is a father 's amazing heroics to convert the war and holocaust into a game for his son and by doing so he's able to keep him away from all the ugliness his little world is forced to acknowledge. Benigni got the Best Actor's Academy award for playing Guido the father, the film was adjudged the Best Foreign Language film and also won an Oscar for the Best Original Dramatic Score. Same year, it was the Grand Jury Prize winner at Cannes. This piece is inspired by a classroom screening during one of the PMEL sessions.Rightly said, 'life does not cease to be funny when people die as much as it ceases to be serious ,when people laugh’.
If comedy could manage bring out laughter from people enveloped with terror, it could indisputably be the biggest weapon to fight terror.ifmiseries don’t seem to relent and one cant help getting out of aninevitably oppressive situation ,at least one can overwhelm the heartwith joy for a while by smiling and making others smile.Thanks to comedythat has helped to bring back the smile on innumerable faces throughages.’Life is beautiful’ is another piece of comedy that has raked upthis idea. It whizzed past in a couple of hours but didn’t fail leavingan indelible imprint in our minds unveiling the idea of fighting terrorusing a weapon which may be invaluable but paradoxically, even theleast fortunate with this treasure.the treasure of the ability to smileand making others smile.
The hero of the movie,(yes,even thoughhe didn’t come up with any stereotypical heroic stunt and was notextraordinary in any way,he definitely was a hero in my opinion.Havingnever giving in to the profusely oozing sweat of hardships that heunderwent in the Nazi conentration camp during the war of fascism) ajewish Italian named Guido ,never failed to make his son smile all thetime using his humourous imaginations even in the grim atmoshpherethat was prevalent in the death camp where destiny had brought them.There wasn’t a single misery that had not gripped him.Beit the catastrophe of war his nation was suffering.Be it the longingnessfor his beloved wife Dora who was separated from him in another jewishconcentration camp or be it the terror of the ultimate end that they allseemed to be heading towards along with his little son who had just embarked on the journey of his life.
All his wit told him thatthe only way to get over such horrific fear was to hold on and notforget to laugh it off.The miseries surely were not enough to engulf hisfaith in humour.He rather told his son who was intrigued in thebeginning that it was an all new game that they had come to play andthat they had to score the 1000 quickest points to win a Tank.This wasenough to fascinate the kiddo who also started taking the hardships as agame and enjoyed it.
Guido was shot to death by the germansoldiers but didn’t fail to make his son laugh even a minute before he died!
Isn’t that a lesson to be learned and realize thesignificance of comedy.Terror is never an invited guest.It graduallylooms over the horizon.But if one learns the art of comedy,it canfortify him to fight back a terror in the ugliest guise.Because laughterdoesn’t just makes life simpler and more worthwhile but mostimportantly,beautiful.
Indeed! Comedy is the biggest weapon to fightterror.And above all,Life is Beautiful!!
If comedy could manage to bring out laughter from people enveloped with terror,it could indisputably be the biggest weapon to fight terror. If miseries don’t seem to relent and one can't help getting out of an inevitably oppressive situation ,at least one can try filling the heart with joy for a while by smiling and making others smile. Thanks to comedy that has helped to bring back the smile on innumerable faces through ages.’Life is beautiful’ is another piece of comedy that has raked up this idea.
It whizzed past in a couple of hours but didn’t fail leaving an indelible imprint in our minds unveiling the idea of fighting terror using a weapon which may be invaluable but paradoxically, even the least fortunate with this treasure. The treasure of the ability to smile and making others smile.
The hero of the movie,(yes,even though he didn’t come up with any stereotypical heroic stunt and was not extraordinary in any way,he definitely was a hero in my opinion. Having never giving in to the profusely oozing sweat of hardships that he underwent in the Nazi concentration camps during the war of fascism)an Italian Jew named Guido ,never failed to make his son smile all the time using his humorous imagination even in the grim atmosphere that was prevalent in the death camp where destiny had brought them. There wasn’t a single misery that had not gripped him. Be
it the catastrophe of war his nation was suffering. Be it the longing for his beloved wife Dora who was separated from him in another concentration camp or be it the terror of the ultimate end that they all seemed to be heading towards along with his little son who had just embarked on the journey of his life.
All his wit told him that the only way to get over such horrific fear was to hold on and not forget to laugh it off. The miseries surely were not enough to engulf his faith in humor. He rather told his son who was intrigued in the beginning that it was an all new game that they had come to play and that they had to score the 1000 quickest points to win a Tank. This was enough to fascinate the kiddo who also started taking the hardships as a game and enjoyed it.
Guido was shot to death by the German soldiers but didn’t fail to make his son laugh even a minute before he died!
Isn’t that a lesson to be learned and realize the significance of comedy. Terror is never an invited guest. It gradually looms over the horizon. But if one learns the art of comedy,it can fortify him to fight back a terror in the ugliest guise. Because laughter doesn’t just makes life simpler and more worthwhile but most
importantly,beautiful.
Indeed!Comedy is the biggest weapon to fight terror. And above all,Life is Beautiful!!
