Life is Beautiful (1997)

The Italian film Life is Beautiful (La vita è bella, 1997) won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1999, and it was hardly unexpected. As soon as the film hit the US market it became one of the favorites without question, and it is easy to see why.

The movie (in Italian, subtitled in English) begins with an endearing story of a quirky and imaginative man named Guido (played by Roberto Benigni, who also directed and co-wrote the film), who sweeps a school teacher, Dora, completely off her feet by showing up unexpectedly wherever she went. He always greeted her with the same enchanting phrase: “Buongiorno principessa!” (Hello, Princess!). All the while, Hitler’s Third Reich is closing in on its mission to conquer Europe.

Fast forward a few years, and Dora and Guido have a son, Giosuè. They are the happiest of families, until one day, on Giosuè’s 4th birthday, they are snatched by Nazi soldiers and taken to a concentration camp. Worried that his son will develop anger or experience unhappiness, Guido does everything in his power to make him believe that everyone in the camp is there playing a big game trying to win the grand prize. In other words, he wanted his son to never doubt that life is beautiful.

This movie will make you laugh and cry, and you will never forget it. For those who saw it when it came out, I invite you to watch it again. I made my husband watch it, despite his aversion to subtitled films, and he absolutely loved it. By the end, we were both trying to console each other.

The holocaust was the shame of mankind. Sometimes, as selfish humans, we turn a blind eye when someone else is being oppressed (or bullied, or rejected, or demeaned), but we are all the same: we will all face oppression at one point or another. Who will help us out when our turn comes?

This point is more eloquently described in a famous poem by Martin Niemöller.

First They came… by Pastor Martin Niemöller

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Always remember that we are all one and the same, and help somebody every chance you get.

Happy Monday, everyone!

ina