Essay Example on Life Is Beautiful is a production of an Italian comic Sensation

Life Is Beautiful is a production of an Italian comic sensation Roberto Benigni The film was written and directed by Roberto Benigni together with his co writer Vincenzo Cerami The film was inspired by Benigni s father who worked in the German fields during the World War II Benigni featured in the movie as Guido Orefice a loopy happy and lucky Jewish Italian bookshop owner who works to protect his son from the possible internment and horrors that come with the Holocaust and the Nazi concentration camp Benigni Vincenzo and Nicoletta 1998 The movie was released in 1997 by Cecchi Gori Distributozione and the first screenplay was in May 1998 The film was first aired on Italian Television station RAI in October 2001 The film was set in Italy an intensely romantic country to show the power of passion the beauty of love and the need of protection from harm and possible hate A good number of actors took part in life is beautiful Roberto Benigni acted as Guide Orifice Nicoletta Braschi as Dora Marisa Parades as Doras Mother and Giorgio Cantarini as Giosue Lydia Alfonsi cast as Guicciardini Giustino Durano as Uncle Zio Eliseo and Giuliana Lojodice as the Headmistress Other actors and actresses were Gil Baroni as the Perfect Sergio Bini Bustic as Ferruccio and Horst Buchholz as Doctor Lessing 

Set during the World War II Guido Orifice a young Jewish arrives in Italy in 1939 to join his uncle Zio Eliseo who operates a restaurant in the city Guido opens a bookstore and in the process meets with a beautiful young girl Dora and falls in love with her Despite Dora being in another intense relationship Guido with his affection managed to sway her away from the rich arrogant man she was formerly set to be engaged to Guido steels Dora from her engagement party ran together on a horse which left her fiancé and mother very humiliated Dora and Guido got married and were blessed with a son whom they named Giosue Giosue turned five during the full force of the World War II where Germans set against the Jewish giving rise to the holocaust The Germans captured Giosue Guido and Eliseo taking them to a labor camp Dora was taken to the side of the detention where women were housed because she insisted on going with her family To protect his son from the horror in the camp Guido tells him that what happened was just a game and the grand prize was a tank Guido continued to play a trick to hide the truth of the matter only to protect his son Guido tells his son to ensure he performs all the tasks given since each of the works was going to earn him points and the final mark was one thousand points 

A little complaint cries or a grumble about being hungry was a sure way to delete his points Guido also tells the boy that quite boys who manage to hide from the camp guards were awarded extra points Time gets tight in the internment but Guido convinces his son never to lose track of the game Eliseo is executed in a gas chamber and Giosue escapes being gassed because he did not follow the children as they were ordered to get into the gas chambers Guido uses the camp s loudspeaker to send messages to Dora since they were in separate quarters When the allied forces approach the camp to shut it down Guido instructs Giosue to hide in a box as the final competition He embarks on looking for Dora but unfortunately he gets caught and was executed Finally the camp is liberated by the U S Army and the prisoners taken to safe grounds Giosue and Dora are reunited as Giosue realized all that happened was a father s sacrifice for the family Grant Barry and Jeannette 1998 The film reception was excellent The Italian press praised the film Benigni was treated as the national hero Pope John Paul II placed the film as among his top five favorite movies Roger Ebert was intrigued with how Benigni used humor in connection with the Holocaust he noted that the author chose the right words to talk about this most delicate matter In the Washington Post Michael O Sullivan termed the film as being sad and funny The presence of genuine poignancy as well as the pathos in the film was identified by Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times According to David Rooney the film has mixed results especially with the use of the visually rather smooth camera work The Entertained Weekly was not left behind Owen Gleiberman gave the film a B labeling it a feel good holocaust weepie He only complained about the film being too short like a game The BBC critic Tom Dawson in 2002 acclaimed that the film was a tribute to imagination love and innocence despite the traumatic circumstances He noted that Benigni s use of fantasy could help lessen the suffering of the victims of the Holocaust Mel Brooks a Jewish American comedic filmmaker was negative about Benigni s piece Life Is Beautiful In his interview with Der Spiegel in 2006 Brooks said Benigni was Gentile who had no family