Life is Beautiful (1997)

"This is a simple story... but not an easy one to tell."

Life is Beautiful (1997) portrays the Holocaust in a comedy-like way. It is a story told by a son, Joshua about the amazing experience his father, Guido Orefice gave him during the Holocaust.

Guido and Joshua are both caught and sent to the concentration camp. Joshua's mother, although is not a Jew, volunteers to enter the concentration camp. To protect Joshua from the trauma he might have experienced in the camp, Guido makes up a story that they are in a game to win a real tank. Besides, he supports his wife, Dora emotionally by announcing that Joshua was safe from the mass murder in gas chamber. In addition, he sings their old time song to her. 

Guido's lies and his attempts to comfort his wife give a strong emotional supports for both Joshua and Dora. As Viktor Frankl suggests, he has given meaning to their sufferings. Joshua sees the captivity, deprivation of food as well as other sufferings and fears as the barriers to overcome in winning a real tank. To win the game gives meaning to Joshua's suffering. At the same time, Dora is given emotional supports from her husband, which gives her meaning and hope for her suffering. Similar to Viktor Frankl's desire to see his wife, giving meaning and supporting his wife as well as the hope to survive together with family from the concentration camp have given meaning to Guido's own suffering. These meanings they found serve as the meaning-making coping, which has helped them to deal with adversity.

"The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance." ~ Viktor Frankl

Although Nazi army has deprived Guido and family from the physical freedom they should have, they still have their freedom to choose their attitude towards the concentration camp. Guido, with his humorous and optimistic personality, has chosen to help Joshua face the suffering as a challenging yet rewarding game. His emotion-coping focused way to deal with adversity has provided the resilience for his family and himself to cope with the stress.

In another light, one component of prejudice in this movie has struck me. Guido is hoping to receive help from Doctor Lessing to escape from the concentration camp. He feels hopeful when the doctor asks to meet him up for an important matter. However, it turns out that the important matter is a riddle that the doctor is having troubles solving. How ironic it is! For the Jews like Guido, it is a matter of life and death. On the other hand, the naive Germans do not see it as a problem. In fact, a riddle is way more important than a life. The same concepts of just-world phenomenon and the inability to empathize are seen in the capitol citizens in The Hunger Games (2012) as well. For the capitol citizens, the annual Hunger Games is as if an entertainment show and a matter of winning or losing in a game. They are unable to see the larger picture of government's oppression against the districts. Ethnocentrism is so strong in the higher class citizens in these two movies that people are not aware or even ignorance of the preciosity of lives. When people start to see things from only one perspective, they begin to fall into the trap of conformity and eventually a pawn in the prejudicial game.

 "A glass half empty is a glass half full", we have the freedom to lead a meaningful life and live life to its fullest even when we are having difficult times. It all depends on the perspective we take. Life is beautiful, even in times of adversity.