War is a heavy, serious history。 Most of the World War II films describe the true war scenes to show the brutality of the war, such as Midway Battle, and Save Private Ryan; or through the love story to express the cruelty of the war, such as Blue Bridge and Captain Colin Mandolin; or demonstrate the evil war by depicting concentration camps as the background, for example, Death Train, Schindler’s List and so on。

Taking Schindler’s List (Spielberg 1993) as an example。 From the perspective of war, Jewish and Nazi racial contradictions in this film become prominently sharpening。 At the same time, many of the scenes of the film are real and cruel, which reconstruct the real historical event that the German entrepreneur Oscar Schindler and his wife, Emily Schindler, are nearly rehabilitated during the Second World War to protect more than 1,200 Jews from being killed by fascists。

What these war films have in common is the excessive rendering death and bloody --- the tragic fate of the Jews in the Schindler List, the brutality of the war in Saving Private Ryan, which impress every audience。

Distinguished from those World War II films, Life is Beautiful is more of the beautiful humanity under the background of cruel war, which makes it a beautiful shining pearl in the boundless sea。

The optimistic and humorous Italian film artist Bernini finds the beauty of humanity   in the blood and death of the concentration camp。 Besides, this film changes the  way  of narration the formal war films have used before, and is full of the black humor which seems to play a big joke on Nazi。 (Shi 54) The film not only shows the real situation of Jews under the war, but also gives us a different view on the war。

The film Life is Beautiful is based on the Guido’s experience, respectively from three aspects, his love, his family bound and his friendship, to show the hero’s good nature and optimistic attitude towards life。 Where there is the war, there is massacre, but this film brings hopes to the suffering that is beyond words by the various details of the protection Guido gives to his family, especially when the Nazi Party launches the “discriminatory policy”, which brings a serious disaster to the Jews。 The hero Guido has Jewish descent, so his suffering in the concentration camp is also the true reproduction of thousands of Jews。来自优W尔Y论W文C网WWw.YoueRw.com 加QQ7520,18766

2。 Literature Review

Life is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian comedy-drama film directed by starring Roberto Bernini。 It tells a story about Guido Orefice, a young Jewish man, who goes to work in the city where he falls in love with a girl named Dora, and finally Guido moves her with his passion and sincerity。 They get married and have a son called Joshua。 Before Joshua’s five-year-old birthday, Guido, his uncle, and Joshua are seized by Nazi because they are Jews, and Dora, not a Jew, volunteer to get on the train to the camp。 In the camp, Guido says it is a game for Joshua’s birthday in order to protect his son from heartbreaking。 Guido employs his rich imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp。 Finally, Guido is shot on his way to look for his wife Dora。 Then the allies liberate the camp。 Guido safeguards his son and wife at the expense of his life and lets his son feel at ease under the brutal tragedy by his great tact。

Many scholars have expressed their understanding of the film。 In the eyes of Han Jinling, this film reflects the concept of love between Guido and Dora, which deserves to be learned by contemporary young men。 The formation of the concept of young people’s love is affected by the society and the concept of life。 (Han 36) So in the impact of the brutal social environment, Dora and Guido’s honest love is more commendable。

Another scholar Shi Liyang, from a more professional film narrative approach, explain his understanding of the film, that is, in the war environment, the protagonist Guido shows his glory of human nature。 (Shi 40-45) In the article “Life is Beautiful”, he conveys the unique outlook on life and on sense of worth, which, from the aspects of theme and content settings, reveals the film’s characteristics。 Cuixin and Sunying also focus on the outlook on life and sense of worth embodied in the film。 The pursuits of happiness, positive  and optimistic attitude towards life, sincere love for life are all elaborated in their article。 (Cui  & Sun 114-115)