Life is Beautiful: A Summary

Last Updated: 20 Apr 2022
Essay type: Summary
Pages: 4 Views: 1252

In the movie “Life is Beautiful”, Guido, the Jewish- Italian, is the protagonist of the film. The whole movie spirals around him at all times. In the second part of the movie, Guido and his son were obliged to board the death train that packed likes sardines towards the concentration camp. Guido clearly knew that once they had disembarked from the train, there will be hardly any chance for them to return to where they belonged. Since Guido and his son, Giosue, stepped onto the train, not only they journeyed into the concentration camp they also voyaged into mountains of white lies which lied deep in the wonderful fantasies.

In my opinion, I think that Guido made a right decision in lying to his son that the Holocaust events were a just a game. There are many reasons that Guido was right about in concealing the truth over his son’s eyes. One of which is because his son, Giosue, did not have to be exposed to the unfair reality at such young age. The exposure to the cruel reality would only tarnish his childhood. It will be a heavy encumbrance for Giosue to live through his childhood under the scornful and mocking eyes of the so-called superior Italians knowing that just due to the fact that he is a Jewish people.Like any other parents, Guido was no different in protecting his son from the ruthless and unwanted veracity. It is obvious in the movie that Guido made no effort in showing his love for Giosue while in the concentration camp.

From hiding the truth about the Holocaust events to sharing his hard-earned portion of food with his son, Giosue was showered bountifully with paternal loves. Guido kept telling Giosue that they were in a game, a real-life competition which the winner would be rewarded a real tank. Guido managed to keep Giosue in awes because he knew that tank was Giosue’s favourite toy.By creating wonderful fantasies over the hopeless situation, Guido swallowed down every moment of bitterness in exchange of his son’s ecstasy of becoming the winner of the “game”. This way of concealment revealed that Guido loved his son very much. Even in a harsh and hapless condition, Guido still managed to flash his smile to reassure his son that they were the top contender to earn the reward. Obviously, he never wanted a single bit of cruelty and unfairness to corrupt Giosue’s childhood.

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In other word, he wanted Giosue to be like other hildren, relishing his childhood with bundles of toys and stacks of joyfulness. Indeed, Guido had to mask the truth for the sake of Giosue’s future. By telling Giosue that the Holocaust events were just a game, Guido gave Giosue the might to survive through the inhuman treatments in the concentration camp. In the meantime, thinking deeply, Guido also instilled discipline and perseverance into Giosue’s little mind. By creating rules for the “competition”, Guido was actually training Giosue to be disciplined and meticulous in order to win the “first prize”.Guido made titanic sacrifices behind all of his lies about the concentration camps. Even with the gun pointing at him from behind, his cheeky antic –marching comforted and lightened up Giosue.

Till the end, his walls of white lies and machinations shielded his son from the cruel reality. Guido died with his wondrous fiction without having to fret over the future of Giosue as his life and the lessons he had learned were very real. Is that right for Guido to tell his son that the Holocaust events were just merely a game? I certainly think that Guido was respectable and undoubtedly right in plotting his moves.He moulded his seamless imagination and full-heart-content love into amazing fantasies to shelter his son and protect his son’s future. It is what all great parents will do. In the movie, Guido used his vast imagination to make the best out of the wicked fate of him and his family. Guido was a downright optimistic and creative person.

He made good use of the situation and events to show his imagination which often leads into bursts of laughter. Guido created fictitious world for those around him, especially his wife, Dora and his son, Giosue. He always referred Dora as “princess” and claimed to be a prince himself.When Guido mounted on a horse to rescue Dora, he was in fact entertaining the fantasy of the knight rescuing the damsel in distress. Nevertheless, he was literally saving her from her surroundings and actually was whisking her away on a horse. Although they both knew the truth, they were willing to entertain the fantasy and play the game. In this way, Guido formed a way for him to cope with reality and impregnated it with beauty and wild fantasy.

Guido also cultivated several coincidences so that he could appear to have controlled fate and performed trick.He was not delighting in fraud or deception, he actually enjoyed creating another world of wonders for someone else. This accentuates the idea that a person’s perception is essential and fundamental to his manipulations and hence he affects how they handle the rest of the world. Guido’s perfect life was brought to a halt when he and his family were forced to board the one-way train, however his creativity and imagination were never cease to exist. Guido’s imagination not only aided him in winning Dora’s hands over her fiance as well as shielded his son, Giosue from the spears of discriminatory treatments.When Guido told Giosue that everything in the concentration camp was just a game, he was creating a fiction, in other words –lies, to keep Giosue’s spirits up. Although his fiction seemed exaggerated, he aimed to protect his son from the wicked reality.

At end of the film, Giosue had survived the concentration camp with perseverance and courage. Eventually, Giosue claimed his first prize, a ride on the real tank. In the movie “Life is Beautiful”, fantasy is truly believed can become reality.

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Life is Beautiful: A Summary. (2018, Jul 27). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/life-is-beautiful-a-summary/

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