Life vs Death, Essay Example

For several years the vagaries of life has persistently engaged the attention of philosophers; they span from deep prying questions such as the state of good and evil, light and darkness. As disparaging and thought-provoking as these issues of life may have entangled humanity, it has failed to dampen man’s quest to ask the right questions with the resolve to find satisfying answers to the dynamism in the human experience. For instance one of the most contentious issues that have pitched humanity along highly divisive lines is the question of love. Some have argued that love is an indispensable human emotional need. Love in its most absolute form is of great vitality to the human spirit, yet failure to appropriately conceptualize it can affect how it will be dispensed.

Being what it is, the ace movie director Roberto Benigni, has chosen to speak to the world about love, because of its place in humanity. His message is expressed in the award winning movie entitled “Life is Beautiful.” Love as a theme has been significantly highlighted in the movie to reflecting the widening corridors of love in every facet of the human experience. The movie is rife with the tremendous depth of parental love manifested by the level of deep sacrifices that have been used to epitomize this chilling fact. The power of romantic love is consummately able to defy what is otherwise regarded as unthinkable.

Looking back into every aspect of human history, it is clear that in every civilization there have always been those who bare the brunt of unwarranted victimization orchestrated by a supposedly consolidated oppressive caste system. The pervasiveness is so acute that this human anomaly becomes reinforced as defining strand of the fabric of society. Take for instance the advent of the various evolutions of discriminatory actions stemming from covert or overt anti-Semitic inclusiveness in defining different groups of people. The case is such that in the event of a proliferation of victimization, the oppressor assumes the role of defining the marginal streams of the oppressed. History clearly tells us that ideally, no amount of oppression or suppression has ever cowed a struggling people to submission—a point re-emphasized by the message put forward by Roberto Benigni’s presentation of an oppressed Jewish people who defy every attempt by the violent Nazi regime to victimize them.

Suffice to subject the movie to an independent analysis with the aim of eventually reconciling it to fit the fundamental theme of love expressed by the writer. Viewed as a fable the movie depicts the sweet and bitter nerves of love exemplified in the nuptial matrimony between a working class man and upper class woman. Following in the sequence of these events is the manner in which a loving father is willing to make a sacrificial lamb of himself just to save the life of a son he loves so deeply. In other words, the father is dying to live again. From both ends, it is seen that the movie has woven together romance and tragedy into a subtle constituent of comedy without compromising the defining themes intended to be communicated to the audience. The writer makes a lucid illumination of the real contradictions in life, such as sweetness versus bitterness, light versus darkness

One fact is undeniable about Guido, the lead character in the movie. He is beautifully skilled in creating his own illusory world of fantasies. It is this fictitious skill that he is able to engage as a weapon to surmount the debilitating worrying realities of his day and age. It is a skill that he uses so well that he becomes technically vulnerable to his own fantasies. Buying into the prevailing realities of victimization, by his standard amounts to buying into the philosophy of victimization proliferated by the oppressive force of the day. Here is an illustration to buttress this assertion, in wooing his wife Dora he refused to believe and accept the artificial social distance that exists between them. Unlike everybody else he succeeded in creating a world where he dictated the pace of events to align with his desires regardless of the odds. In the second instance, a resilient Guido craftily coins a story to explain to his toddler son about their agonizing state in the Nazi run concentration camps. It is however worth noting that he did not enjoy exclusive success in both instances. Whilst the first instance proved successful, based on his eventual wedlock with Dora the love of his love, the second instance reached a tragic climax because of his execution despite the strong conviction he held about the eventual triumph of good over evil in the contest involving good versus evil.

Above all, an additional strength showcased by the lead character has to do with the dexterity with which he tries to provide an interpretation for the circumstances of the complexities of our daily existence. The scope of this quest is so invigorating so much such that, besides providing answers to the curious mind of his toddler son under the threat of the Nazi consummation flames, the interpretations are by extension a momentary reprieve for the character to enable him exercise solace in his own misgivings. Think about the fact that the realities are too gruesome for him to accept much less his son, therefore the series of explanations he gives to his son, eventually becomes a consolation for him.

Light as opposed to darkness provides perspective that facilitates visualization. Yet history has reported of ordinary human beings who successfully sustained the visual capacity even in the midst of the darkest moment. The inferential account for such a phenomenon can most likely be attributed to a lighting capacitor engrained in the heart that is able to illuminate in the darkness.

Light and darkness are therefore competing forces seeking to hold the controlling levers in the heart of the human being. As light provides perception its absence leaves a vacuum of gloom, fertile for the growth of unsupportive forces.

The human heart being the spring of every act of living is subject to the invasive dictates of a vision enhanced lifestyle. There are those who hold the opinion that light and darkness are factors that complement each other either through the presence or absence of the other. Darkness is interpreted as the advent of unpalatable series of events or even an isolated incident in the life of an individual. Going by this, Guido’s family life prior to the opening of hostilities that ushered in the Second World War was brightly radiating, if marrying the bride of his dream is also considered a success story. Darkness steps in both in the build up and the eventual march to the death camps. Bluntly contending that the concentration camps constitutes a dark phase may not be entirely correct, judging from the fact that he still had some reservoir of light strong enough to create in his subconscious mind the ideal world he believed in; straining to make that imprint in the mind of his infant son.

Reaching out to fill the vacuum created by the absence of light is an inevitable demand stirred by a perception for vision. Stated differently light is needed to restore life to its pre-darkness state of normalcy. The second section of the “Life is Beautiful” is testament of this craving. Light becomes the driving force of inspiring hope and confidence in the tattered personality. Hope, derived from comfort can be an alternating lunar face needed to enhance the soul of a broken personality.

It is imperative to find a compromising platform that will enable the re-crystallization of what has sublimed by way of a failed love, a crashed dream, a staggering disappointment and what have you. Restoration should emanate from the foundational basis in the heart of the man that seeks to replace the darkness with lighting capacity. On such occasions, it takes resolute unfailing love to cultivate the resilience needed to stand the raging flames of antagonism that inspires darkness of the soul. Over and above all, Guido has been able to amply demonstrate this philosophical fact by living it.