“Life Is Beautiful” by Roberto Benigni, Essay Example

In “Life is Beautiful”, Roberto Benigni uses the characters to demonstrate a sense of perfection of the lives of the individuals in Romanita. Guido Orefice is a happy young man who falls in love with a woman named Dora, and he spends a majority of this part of the movie trying to convince her to be with him. Eventually, Guido succeeds, which continues to highlight this concept of perfection. These interactions are used to show the ignorant bliss that many individuals in Romanita are living in light of the changing political climate. While there is notion that the National Fascist Party is becoming prevalent, Guido and those around him do not focus much on this, and instead do what they can to live their lives happily.

Using this situation, it appears that the director was trying to show the audience that such ignorance was problematic because it contributed to the ability for the National Fascist Party to rise and take control of Italy. As such, the director shows that even though individuals are involved with their own personal lives and the beauty involved in living these lives, it is important to pay attention to world events and to become involved to prevent these events from impacting the safety of society. Guido is meant to serve as a representation of others living in Italian society, unaware of what was about to happen to them as a consequence of the Nazi regime. No one thinks that they are likely to be the victim of political decisions, but Guido’s story shows us that it is important to be less trusting of our governments and to become involved to avoid such tragedies from occurring.

The culture of romanità was prevalent in the first half of the film because it appeared that the characters developed a real sense of community that understanding a shared culture brought about. All of the characters were working hard in their daily lives in order to create a sense of progress to contribute to the greatness of Italy. During World War II, the concept of romanità was especially important because members of this nation were finally grasping their role in the world as a unified country. Overall, this was met with success in the first part of the film. Here, we see that implementing the concept of romanità is beneficial to these individuals because it allows them to feel that they are part of a greater society and that their actions contribute to the bettering of their community.

As the movie continues, however, the characters need to grasp the changes that are occurring in their community. While many still believe that the concentration camps are being established in order to achieve the rebirth of the country, others, especially those directly impacted by these camps are beginning to doubt that the fascist movement is able to truly contribute to romanità. Thus, in the first part of the film, there is a significant contrast between what could in reality act as a rebirth for the Italian people compared to the forced “rebirth” that they are facing. Overall, it is important to consider that change is not always good and that it is necessary to enforce positive change in order for the Italian community to achieve greatness with respect to other world societies.