Life is Beautiful film
Night by Elie Weisel
Prompt: Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading? What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different? What is similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces? How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull out at least two examples from different parts of the film and explain your rationale.
In the film Life is Beautiful and the book Night there were many similar connections. One that I noticed the most was how the father and son stuck together for the majority of the pieces. In the film it was Guido and Joshua, and in the book it was Elie and Shlomo Weisel who stuck together. Both families had a loving relationship, but also went through a tough time. In the book Elie's father was the only reason Elie was still living. He didn't want to lose him or even be separated from him. The novel states, "I held onto my father's hand - the old, familiar fear: not to lose him." This show show Weisel truly cared for his father and wanted to be with him the whole time. In the film Guido makes the concentration camp seem like a big game to his son Joshua. Guido tells Joshua that they are there to win a tank, and they need to get a certain amount of points to win. Guido tells Joshua this so that Joshua will survive. He was willing to lie to German guards and other people in the camps along with Joshua, because he loved him so much, and didn't want him to die. In the end the fate of the fathers were very similar. Both fathers died in the camps. In the film Guido is shot after he is caught sneaking around. In the book Weisel's father dies from starvation, sickness, and weakness.
Scenes and situations that were similar between Night and Life is Beautiful is that both characters were in concentration camps, and both experienced deaths of people. In the book Night, Weisel was put into different concentration camps along with his father. The book states, "We have arrived - at Birkenau, reception center for Auschwitz." This shows that Weisel and his family were put in a concentration camp. In the film it shows how Guido, Joshua, and Dora were all put in the same concentration camp, and we saw how the soldiers acted and what living conditions they were in. This shows that both of these character's situations were similar, because they both went through having poor quality beds, and constantly being hungry. In both the film and book they saw and had loved ones and friends killed by the Nazis. They also both were separated from the women. In the book it states, "I saw them disappear into the distance... And I did not know that in that place, at that moment, I was parting from my mother and Tzipora forever." It also states, "In my father's place lay another invalid. They must have taken him away before dawn and carried him to the crematory." This shows that Weisel was separated from his mother, sister, and father, and never saw them again, because they have all been killed. Weisel has lost the people he loved the most. In the film Guido and Joshua are separated from Dora who was the mother and wife. This shows that both titles were similar, because they went through the the same time period and witnessed similar situations. Near the end of both pieces, both Weisel, and Joshua lose the person they were most close to during their time in the concentration camps. This person was their father. Joshua and Weisel survived the Holocaust, because of their fathers.
The mood between the film and book are similar, but are displayed in a different way. Throughout the entire book, Night, the mood is very melancholy. The book focuses on all of the terrible things that went on during the time in the concentration camps. The book states, "Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never." This shows that he will never forget the horrible things that happened to him in the time he was in the camps. Weisel doesn't look back at those times in the camps as a happy time at all. Instead he sees a wrecked time in his life. In the film most of the film takes place during this tragic time, but the mood is not shown like how it is in the book. Throughout the entire film there are humorous parts. When the German guards come into their sleeping area and asked if anyone spoke German to translate the rules, Guido goes up and tells the people in the room all the wrong information that the German speaker is saying. He says these false rules to make Joshua believe the whole situation was a big game. The things he said were very funny, and the people who were listening were confused. Watching this scene made it funny, but in reality the German people were probably saying rules that if anyone disobeyed they would get killed.
Life is shown as beautiful thoughout the film in many ways. In the begining of the film Guido and Dora kept on bumping into each other unexpectedly. Guido fell in love with her the first time they met. After some time of being in love with each other the film introduced their son, Joshua. They all seemed so happy together. We can tell that they all had a wonderful, happy life. In the concentration camps that feeling changed a little, but there were moments when the family was still smiling. In one part of the film Dora is working with many other women while Guido is serving people. Guido then plays a song that him and Dora both heard at a party loud enough so that she could hear it. When she heard it she smiled and knew that Guido was there thinking about her. There was another time when Guido was able to talk on a speaker and tell Dora that he loved her. Even through this tough time Guido was still able to make his family smile. Towards the end of the movie Guido managed to save Joshua's life. He kept up his trick to make Joshua hidden so he wouldn't get killed like the rest of the children. A couple of times Joshua could have gotten killed, but Guido got away with it. One time a German server hears Joshua say "Thank you" to him in Italian, and the man went to go get someone. If it wasnt for Guido's next action Joshua would have been taken away and probably killed. Guido pretended to be teaching the kids how to say "Thank you" right before the people came back, so that it wasn't suspicious. This act saved Joshua's life. In the end of the film Joshua reunites with his mother and they are both happy. Dora knew what happened to kids and she was so happy that he was still alive. Life was truly beautiful at this time, because Dora and Joshua had survived the rough time.
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