100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #92: Life is Beautiful (1997)

Written, Directed by, and Starring Roberto Benigni

"This is a Fairy Tale"¹

These were the first words seen by the Cannes Film Festival audience during a showing of Roberto Benigni’s 1997 comedic/war film “Life is Beautiful”. While such a disclaimer was later removed for mass distribution in theaters and physical media, it provides great insight as to what kind of perspective and “lens” to go into watching this film with. The film takes place in 1930s Italy, surrounding the events of World War II, with the Jewish Bookseller Guido (Roberto Benigni), his wife Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), and son Giosué (Giorgio Cantarini) taking the center stage in this fairytale of ours. Before marrying Dora, Guido introduces himself both to his supporting characters and to us as the audience as a man of great joy and comedy. With a love as simple as a child, and a heart as persistent as a lover, Guido yearns to earn the heart of Dora, his “princess” ever since he laid eyes on her. His constant effort to capture Dora’s heart is one of the most ridiculous and hilarious parts of the film. The reason for this is provided by Guido’s seemingly supernatural ability to ask and receive anything he asks from Our Lady, sobeit a key, a message, or a dry hat. While such coincidental moments are shown being set up earlier in the film and executed to perfect comedic timing only now, it cannot help strike this writer that such dependence on any such higher being to take care of and watch over himself is one that is not only shown comedically in these moments but throughout the entire duration of the film. It is precisely this dependency that drives such joy and selflessness in Guido’s character. After such dedication and laughably absurd chance, Guido manages to claim the heart of Dora as his own, and through such, little Giosué is born.

For a few years, life for this new family of three proves much joy and laughter for everyone. Yet like every fairy tale, there comes a point when the dragon of chaos creeps into the good land. Suddenly and slyfully, all those with a Jewish heritage are gathered from the towns and put upon trains to at first mysterious places. This is where the fairy tale takes on its full form as we witness Guido’s fatherly love protect his Giosué’s little world from the harsh cruelties and evils that plague to destroy it. From this point on, no longer do we view the terrors of the concentration camps and holocaust through the eyes of adults who know the history and events and as such are are left in terror and shock by such grave evils, but view everything through the eyes of a loving father who’s willing to do whatever it takes to let his son know that he is safe and loved. Throughout the duration of the imprisonment, Guido puts forth all his effort in making his son’s experience of the camp into a game that they are both competing in. While at first little Giosué is skeptical at what his father is telling him, he eventually is captivated by the “game” that his father has invented and is happy to play it with him. And to his wife on the far opposite side of the camp, Guido sneaks onto the loud speakers memorably to the entire camp, his undying love for his princess. Despite being surrounded in the most hopeless and cruel of circumstances, such that many of us would understandably fall within the traps of desperation and perhaps even self-pity, Guido lavishes his whole self on keeping his wife and son within the grasp of his selfless care. Just as many fairy tales are told to children in order to illustrate moral truths and create within them aspirations for living a good life, this film does so in a subtle yet beautiful way. As opposed to swords and bows used by fearless heroes and knights, our hero uses the selfless joy of a faithful husband and father to those dearest to him.

In describing a “selfless joy”, a term which could prove puzzling for such a society which uses the terms joy and happiness synonymously. The great distinction between the two is that joy proves to be an act, not a state of being like happiness. And it is not just any act, but as Thomas Aquinas boldly puts it, “Joy is the Noblest Human Act”. Joy is when one chooses to presently be both in contemplation of and possesses a deep awareness towards all of the inherent good of creation surrounding. While doing so doesn’t inherently cause one to be in full possession of such inherent goods (what it means to be happy), its exterior reflection does manifest within such a person’s outward expression of joy, causing others to possess happiness as a result. Because of this reality wherein the experience of happiness is not necessarily bestowed upon oneself but rather on others, it becomes a selfless virtue worthy of nobility. The great lesson from this fairy tale is to showcase to its viewers both young and old, the tremendous power and effect that selflessly proclaimed joy is able to have on others especially in the face of grave evils and turmoil. And especially for Catholics, such a sacrificial and simple way of living recalls the many lives of joyous saints throughout time and history. Whether it they maintained the lightheartedness of a child like St. Phillip Neri or St. Francis, or even at the last moments of their lives they shouted hymns of praise before their death like many of the holy martyrs of the faith, the saints have constantly been a radiant example of true Catholic living in a world so used to self-pity and despair.

"La Vita è Bella" or “Life is Beautiful". Such a title could, and often does, seem paradoxical even after reading a synopsis of the film. How could one dare state “life is beautiful” after presenting us with one of humanity’s darkest periods. Benigni actually gives us insight as to where such a title comes from.² The title comes from the words of Leon Trotsky- Stalin’s former right-hand man who was at the time of quotation exiled in Mexico, awaiting the inevitable arrival of Soviet assassins. Yet despite the terrors surrounding and plaguing him, and being greatly aware of the soon and painful arrival of death he would have to suffer for his prior allegiance, Trotsky finds himself reflecting and contemplating on the beauty of life around him. As such I end with the words he wrote:

“[My wife] has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression, and violence and enjoy it to the full.”

1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/alternateversions/?tab=cz&ref_=tt_dyk_alt

2. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/trivia/