Heroes and Villains in Life is Beautiful

Describe what is happening in this scene.


Guido is describing the camp rules by 'translating' the rules form German to Italian even though Guido does not speak German. He volunteered to to this to create the game for his son. This scene depicts the German rules and creates humour through the use of Juxtaposition of the harsh German language to the flowing Italian.

Who are the heroes and villains in this scene? Why are they heroes and villains?


The heroes in this scene would be Guido as he is creating the game for his son and standing against the Germans who are depicted as being the villains. The Germans are depicted as being the villains as they are associated with dark colours of their uniform, harshness of their voice and the feeling of them being in omnipotent control over the Jews.

For the hero/es and villain/s, describe techniques used in this shot which highlight their opposing role and how they connect with the audience.


The use of the harsh sounding sounds from the German officer creates a sense of control over the Jews. The low lighting in the scene creates a gloomy dirty atmosphere within the scene emphasising the conditions that the Jews are living in this allows the audience to feel compassion towards the Jews. The juxtaposition used in the language between the German harsh words compared to the flowing Italian language highlights the German's strictness and power over the Jews this creates even more compassion towards the Jews. Guiodo's 


HW: How do the characters in 'Life is Beautiful' represent an engaging and unique presentation of the Holocaust experience?


'Life is Beautiful' represents an engaging and unique presentation by taking the view of Joshua by highlighting his childhood innocence. This childhood innocence is represented by the game created by his father which highlights his innocence of Joshua as the audience sees the irony of what Joshua does and how his father creates this game.


'Life is Beautiful' represents an engaging and unique presentation of the holocaust through the representation of the characters. Guido is an interesting as a Hero as he is represented as being weak and scrawny by the way he stands when he is translating for the German guards. This representation of Guido makes him into a different and interesting Hero as he does not follow the standard conventions of Heroes but is seen as a Hero because of him standing up against the oppression of the Germans by creating the game that Joshua follows.


The subtle use of shapes and lighting when associated with characters further increases the engagement the film produces with the audience. This sue of lighting and shapes when associated with characters makes the audience link certain characters with feelings. This is best shown in the translation scene where the Germans are represented as being well uniformed and disciplined juxtaposed to the Jews who are seen in a mess in the camp. The subtle use of placing the Germans in the doorway represents how the Jews were trapped in the camp and what was keeping there were the Nazis.


'Life is Beautiful' represents an engaging and unique presentation of the holocaust by taking the view of Joshua by highlighting his childhood innocence. This is shown throughout the film as he follows the game his father creates this game highlights his innocence of the havoc that was around him.


'Life is Beautiful' creates an engaging and unique presentation of the holocaust as it highlights the childhood innocence. This unusual thesis of the movie creates a unique film about the holocaust and emphasises the atrocities that had taken place around these characters.