Life Is Beautiful Sociology

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The 1997 Italian film, Life is Beautiful, was directed, written, and starred in by Roberto Benigni. The movie is about a Jewish man (Benigni) and his family who sadly get caught in the middle of the Holocaust in Europe during World War II. The story begins with Guido (Benigni) and his blossoming family, including his Catholic wife, Dora. Once the Holocaust has begun in Europe, there is discrimination against Jews throughout Italy. As a Jewish librarian, he and his family were affected. After being taken captive by the Nazis, this joyful man, despite the negativity surrounding him, is able to make this awful situation seem positive for his young son, Joshua, in order to prolong his survival. Dora, although from Catholic blood, after seeing her…show more content…
A manifesto della razza, ("manifesto of the race") was introduced and declared that the Jewish race is lesser than other races. Due to this, Jews experienced persecution, lost their homes and jobs, and eventually were shipped to concentration camps. This is exactly what happened to Guido and his family in Life is Beautiful. Nazi Germany allied with Fascist Italy during World War II. They worked together to send Jews to concentration camps and joined forces on the battlefield. Many of these people imprisoned in these camps died from poor nutrition, execution or disease. Camps were mainly located in Poland and Germany, with some in Italy and other locations. Men and women were shipped from Poland, Germany, Italy, and all the other camps to these extermination camps to be killed. Typically, Italian Jews were shipped to a concentration and extermination…show more content…
For example, marriages between Jews and non-Jews were illegal, so technically Guido and Dora’s marriage should have never occurred because he was Jewish and she was Catholic. Another example of inaccuracy has to do with the concentration camp. Guido and his family are claimed to be taken to a camp in Italy with a crematoria and that conducts mass killings. If this were true, they would have been placed in an extermination camp. However, all of these extermination camps were located in Poland. In the movie, Guido and his family never were said to have left Italy, and historically, most Italian Jews never did leave Italy. Also, in an actual concentration/ extermination camp, the Jews would not be clean, fed, and decently dressed. And, they would have had to share bunks way more than that of what was acknowledged in the movie. In the film, Guido was able to wander wherever whenever, however, if completely accurate, he would not have had that freedom. Security was tight and therefore, central areas would never be left unattended. In a few scenes, Guido spoke to a guard or made eye contact, however, if this had happened in an actual camp, the Jew would have been killed right away. Finally, the dead victims would not have been kept hidden away, they were out in public because the Nazis didn’t see a point in hiding them. Although the movie is mainly historically accurate, few
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