Review of Life Is Beautiful (1997) by Quaza — 08 Feb 2019

Life is Beautiful is a movie that follows three characters, being Guido, Dora, and Joshua. The beginning shows Guido trying to get Dora to love him. While there are many roadblocks, he eventually succeeds and grows up to be the father of a son named Joshua, as well as owning a bookstore. However, propaganda starts being put up that labels the Jews (which Guido happens to be) as the enemies. Soon enough, the once-happy family has to be taken to the concentration camps ran by the Nazis. Now, Guido and Dora must survive the Holocaust while the father keeps Joshua unaware of the terrors around him. The characterization of the cast of Life is Beautiful is amazing. Guido and Joshua really feel like a duo of father and son, with Guido trying to entertain his child as much as possible in a horrible place like a concentration camp. Sound design (such as music) excels as every sound and song fits with the setting and the cinematography show the scenery in great angles with perspective.

However, this movie isn’t perfect. A minor issue is that this movie is entirely in Italian. While subtitles are provided, it may feel odd to some that they can’t hear this movie in a native language. The second issue is how the Holocaust is portrayed. The movie gives a bigger focus on the cast rather than the events around them. This makes sense, as ⅓ of the movie was to develop these characters. But since they’re living in such an awful era of time, it’s odd that only snippets of what happened in the camps were shown. If you want to have a bigger focus on the Holocaust, read Night by Elie Wiesel, which shows the tragedies on the Holocaust better.