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Life Is Beautiful Film Analysis

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The film Life is beautiful was directed by Roberto Benigni in 1997. The film tells the story of a man by the name of Guido who falls in love with a woman named Dora. He is later taken to a concentration camp with his family. Guido turns the experience of the concentration camp into a game in order to hide the harsh reality of the war and many killings from his young son, Giosue . Benigni portrays the theme of love through hard times in the film Life is beautiful by using a range of cinematic techniques such as lighting, non-diegetic music and camera shots. Benigni uses lighting in order to emphasize love through hard times throughout the film of ‘Life is beautiful’. The light which is distributed throughout the film brings the emotions …show more content…

Not only did the music enhance emotion it also brought a flashback to Guido and Dora as they remember back to when times were easier, this of which encouraged both of them to keep up hope for more simple times. Non-diegetic music is also accompanied with voices in the scene of which Guido and Giosue are talking to Dora on the loudspeaker. Before this scene Dora was shown going through the clothes of those who were killed in gas chambers, this scene had dark music to portray the emotions of Dora. After Guido speaks the first sentence on the loudspeaker the music begins to play, at this point the audience realises that this event shows that Guido and Giosue are willing to get caught just so they are able to speak to Dora. Towards the conclusion of this scene the music begins to slow down and get sadder as the guards can go be heard going after Guido and Giosue. These scenes are closely related with camera shots in order to enhance emotion. The director uses multiple camera shots to highlight the love during troublesome times and the emotions that are present. A wide shot is used when the audience watches Guido marching in front of the soldier shortly before his death. Guido does this as he is aware that his son is watching and still wants the experience of the camp to be a fun game and does not want Giosue to be afraid of what is happening. Close up shots are commonly used throughout the film to give more detail into the emotions that the characters are feeling. A

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