Life is Beautiful 4/16/15

     The film Life is Beautiful is very comparable to the book Night, which is also about the Holocaust. In both movies the beginning talks about before the concentration camps when the Jews. They both describe how the Jews were treated badly. They then both talk about the train ride to the concentration camps. The buildup part of the movie and book are very important because they show how the situation started and progressed as time went on. It also shows that these people were living normal lives before the Nazis came into power. One difference between these two movies is where the main characters start out. In Life is Beautiful the main character starts in Italy, which started out as an Axis country. In Night the main character starts in a country that is captured by Germany. This results in the main characters having different experiences.

     The tone of the two pieces are very different. In Life is Beautiful the tone is hopeful. The tone is funny at times because Guido is telling Joshua lies about the camps and jokes to keep him happy. In the book Night the tone is depressed. There is no humor and the main character is very depressed the entire book. This makes the movie and book appear very different when they are actually very similar. The tone of each piece is also very important to how it is viewed. The movie Life is Beautiful is thought of as a story about hope during bad times because of its tone. The book Night is more of a story about the horrors of the Holocaust because of its tone.

     Life is beautiful throughout the film because of Guido's uplifting attitude. When Guido is in Italy he is very cheerful. He talks very kindly to everyone and is very energetic. Many people like him because of this. This attitude also makes life beautiful while he is in the concentration camps. When the commanding offices needs a translator to tell the Jews the rules, Guido volunteers. He does not know what the officer is saying but instead makes jokes and the officer cannot understand. This makes the tone of the arrival at the camp much more light hearted. This also makes Joshua very happy which is Guido's goal.