Life Is Beautiful: Humor Is A Tool Of Tragedy

I used to watch "Life is Beautiful" and see it as a comedy film. It wasn't until I grew older that I realized that the core of this movie, like other great comedies, is actually tragic. The contrast between the joyful first and the profoundly tragic second half makes it feel as if it was two different films.

For instance, there's a scene where Guido chases after Dora. She mentions that the right key can unlock her heart. Guido then shouts to the sky, "Mary, the key!" and miraculously, the key falls from above.

Then Guido shouts to the sky again, "Mary, send someone to let us know when we should eat the cake." And the doctor walks over and says, “7 seconds.” Dora also imitates Guido and asks Mary to send someone to give him a hat, and it miraculously happens.

There's also the scene in the theatre where Guido keeps staring at Dora. The person next to him expresses confusion, so Guido cleverly says, "I can only hear with my left ear." These scenes show how intelligent Guido is.

He manages to win Dora's heart not only through his intelligence but also because he truly sees her as his princess. His words are backed by actions: he inscribes "Good morning, Princess" on the cake, takes Dora away on a horse, lays down a carpet for her, talks to her through loudspeakers in the concentration camp, and sings songs for her. All these gestures are incredibly romantic. The most touching part is when Guido goes to find Dora and gets discovered, and then he is executed by a firing squad. Even more cruelly, the war ends the next day.

Many audience will wonder: if Guido hadn't gone to find Dora, would they be able to reunite as a family the next day? Was Guido's sacrifice meaningless? Most people prioritize their own safety and wouldn't risk execution like what Guido did to find his wife. They wouldn't go to the distance of creating a comforting fiction for their child or willingly allow themselves to be taken to a concentration camp like Dora, even though she wasn't Jewish.

It is exactly because most ordinary people wouldn't do such things that Guido and Dora's actions are incredibly touching because they did what others didn't have the courage to do. Dora was willing to be with her family by entering the concentration camp, and Guido was willing to risk his life to say "Good morning, Princess" over the loudspeakers and sing songs for her, which further illustrates their genuine love. Even in the face of danger, Guido never gave up on his love for his wife and son. This love not only gave hope to his family but also became his vulnerability, ultimately leading to his tragic fate of being executed.

If Guido had been only concerned about himself, given his intelligence, he likely would have survived until the end. However, he didn't want to live without his family. He doesn't feel remorseful for his choices, and if he had the chance to do it all over again, he would make the same decisions. He values the lives of his wife and son more than his own.

I used to wonder why a movie about war and concentration camps includes many comedic elements. Why does it spend so much time telling the love story of Guido and Dora?

The reason behind this unique approach is the abundance of movies that solely depict war from start to finish. The director Roberto Benigni (who also plays Guido) chose a more innovative filming technique, later adopted by films like "Jojo Rabbit." In "Life is Beautiful," he didn't directly portray the brutality of the concentration camp through bloody and terrifying scenes. Instead, he contrasted it with the joyful life of Guido's family in the first half of the movie. The happier their earlier life, the more it highlights the suffering in the concentration camp. The film's humorous and engaging tone served to highlight the sadness of the ending. If there is no peace, how would you know how cruel war is?

As I said at the beginning, it's like two different movies. This sharp contrast mirrors the harsh realities of war and racial discrimination, while also showcasing the immense power of parental love. Guido tells Joshua to hide in the cabinet, but Joshua says that Schultz is inside. In fact, Guido doesn't even know the boy who was previously hiding there, Interestingly, Guido invented the name Schultz on the spot and had even forgotten about it, but Joshua remembers. This highlights Joshua’s intelligence and demonstrates the success of Guido’s “lie”, as his son believes him.

Joshua's wisdom surpasses that of his father. A child as clever as him wouldn't be easily deceived, so Guido put in a tremendous amount of effort to convince him that everything was just a game. Every time he is taken away by someone, he walks in a funny and exaggerated manner, making Joshua think that he is just playing a game. While everyone else was exhausted from their work and went to bed immediately upon returning, Guido pretended to continue the game, displaying immense happiness to sustain the illusion for his son.

Joshua doesn't believe him and wants to go home, but Guido doesn't stop him from leaving. Instead, he uses his wisdom to make him stay. The falling key may be able to unlock her heart, but it can't break the chains of slavery. Riding a horse might symbolize freedom from marriage, but it doesn't liberate from the shackles of fascism.

In the face of harsh reality, he responds with warmth. Despite the brutality of war, he conquers it with paternal love. A carefully crafted lie, a game shared between father and son, gifts the child with a childhood without shadows. I am just an ordinary person, but you made me a princess. I just wished for a toy tank, yet you allowed me to ride a real one. He is an unknown figure, yet his capabilities are boundless. Even amidst hellish circumstances, he transforms it into a paradise. His life becomes the cost, exchanged for a beautiful life for his family.

Indeed, paternal love is one of the very important elements in the film, but it is not the main theme of the film. If this movie was only about the greatness of paternal love, it would not have achieved such a high status in film history. Paternal love can only be considered as the second major theme of the film. The true theme of the film is actually anti-war and anti-discrimination.

Guido's unsuccessful attempt to open a bookstore is because of Mussolini's policy of racial discrimination, where Jews face difficulties in everything they do. In addition, the school principal tells the students that they are the noblest race in the world. Shops prohibiting Jews from entering can be seen everywhere on the streets. Of course, the most brutal part is the Nazi massacre of Jews, sparing not even women and children.

Do you remember the girl who was sitting next to Guido and Joshua when they were taken away?

By the time this cat reappears, its owner is no longer there. The director does not resort to showing the girl being killed to create a tragic effect, but instead implies her fate through some details.

There are many such horrifying details:

In the concentration camp, a doctor tells Guido that his veterinarian friend asked him a riddle: fat and ugly, cowardly and yellow, if you ask me what kind of creature I am, I answer: quack quack quack. The doctor says he doesn't know if the answer is a duck or a platypus, and also mentions that the call of a platypus is not "quack quack quack". The doctor has a hidden message in his words, using the difference in the call of a duck and a platypus to express the difference in language between Italians and Germans.

In the restaurant, Joshua accidentally said "thank you" in Italian, arousing suspicion from the Germans. Joshua cannot make sure he will remain silent for long, which allows the doctor to realize that helping them escape is much more difficult than he imagined. Indeed, he had previously decided to help Guido's family escape, but in the end, he gave up. Guido is a very clever person, and he understood the meaning that the doctor wanted to convey through the riddle, so he left with sadness. In fact, the doctor also has his own difficulties. If he fails to assist Guido's family in escaping, he too will not have a happy ending.

Actually, all the riddles in the film are not randomly chosen; they are all related to the plot. The first riddle the doctor asks Guido is: "The more you see, the less you see. What is it?" Guido answers: "Darkness." If the world is too dark, people will lose their way and can't see the path ahead. Exactly, Guido becomes like a candle, casting a dim but guiding light in the darkness, leading his wife and son forward while sacrificing himself in the process.

Later, Guido asks the doctor a question about cutting a slice of Snow White's cake, which sets the stage for Guido's "strategy" for Dora. Before the doctor leaves for Germany, he asks Guido: "Once I'm mentioned, I disappear. Who am I?" Guido answers: "Silence." This riddle becomes the key for the doctor to recognize Guido during the examination in the concentration camp.

This riddle is very clever because its question "Once I'm mentioned, I disappear" corresponds to the situation in the concentration camp - if one is discovered, they will be executed.

The answer "silence" is also Guido's instruction to Joshua, telling him to hide in the cupboard and remain silent until it's safe to come out.

In addition to the cat and the doctor mentioned above, there is another scene that leaves a significant impact. Outside the gas chamber, Guido's uncle kindly asks the German female officer who stumbled: "Are you hurt?" This detail may seem insignificant and many people overlook it, but it holds profound meaning.

The female officer has just come out of the gas chamber; she has done this many times before and knows the fate of the people inside. That's why she walks unsteadily and stumbles. But the Jews are kept in the dark and don't know they are going to the gas chamber; they think it's just a shower.

Guido's uncle, once a waiter in a restaurant, instinctively expresses concern to the female officer who stumbled due to his professional habits. This is also reflected in Guido; when Joshua says he doesn't want to take a shower, Guido commands him to go, clearly believing it really means taking a shower. The people who entered the gas chamber died, and those like Joshua who didn't enter it don't know what's inside, so very few people know the secret that the bathroom is actually a gas chamber.

German officers were so frightened by the horrific scenes in the gas chambers that they couldn't walk steadily, while the Jews had no idea what awaited them, creating a stark contrast. They keep you in the dark, withholding the truth, keeping you oblivious to the fact that you are about to die. As viewers, having a God's eye view, we are painfully aware that the shower is, in reality, a gas chamber. It deeply saddens us to witness Guido and his uncle, along with others, being completely unaware of the truth. Because the heart-wrenching aspect is knowing your fate, yet being merely an observer, you are unable to change the tragic course of events and do anything about it.

The director did not use graphic and terrifying scenes to portray the horrors of war. There are no close-ups of the gas chambers, no detailed shots of the victims' suffering (just a brief glimpse of bodies on the ground), and even Guido's execution is conveyed through sound rather than explicit visuals. This approach does not diminish the power of the film; instead, it emphasizes the director's respect for life.

In "Life is Beautiful," the pain endured by the victims is depicted through the storyline, intricate details, and metaphors. This approach allows viewers to empathize deeply instead of being frightened by explicit and shocking scenes. The director could have filmed the grotesque images of Jews corroded by gas, or the torture inflicted upon them by the Nazis. However, he chose to protect our souls, just like Guido protected Joshua. So, the director's true purpose is not only to celebrate paternal love but more importantly, to make people understand the cruelty of war and the horrors of genocide through Guido's sacrifice and the experiences of his entire family.

Guido's utilization of a beautiful lie, convincing his son that they are in heaven while enduring the harsh reality of hell, is a profoundly touching narrative. But after watching this film, it evokes a hope for a world of peace, free from war and discrimination. In such a world, fathers wouldn't need to resort to well-intentioned lies, as their children would already be living in a heavenly existence, unmarred by the tragedies of conflict and prejudice.