Life and death, love and loss, and family and nation

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"The story is king." This is one of the golden rules recognized by filmmakers worldwide. Every time I think about this rule, I always recall a movie I saw 7 years ago and am still touched by- Life is Beautiful.

The story of Life is Beautiful is set during World War II. A Jewish man, Guido, gets married and with an Italian schoolteacher, Dora. Several years later, this happy couple and the child Joshua live happily until one fateful day. Guido and Joshua are arrested by Germans during preparation for Joshua's fifth birthday party, and they are transferred to a concentration camp. Dora volunteers to be a captive even though she is non-Jewish. From that time, Guido starts to protect his son's innocence by using his wit and humor. Finally, Guido gives up his own survival to prevent the Germans from discovering his son.

There are a lot of movies that talk about World War II. Life is Beautiful is undoubtedly one of the most successful ones. Personally, I like the way the story uses an ordinary Jewish man's point of view. There are no scenes of warfare or slaughter shown in the movie directly. The cruel and vile truth is reflected by one person's life.

The director pushes the story into climax by using contrastive dramatic elements: the positive personality of the protagonist with the callous manner of the Germans; the strong humorous father with the young innocent son; the fate of a little family with the evolution of world history. The movie uses baby steps to put all the dramatic elements together, then makes those conflicts erupt at the moment that the protagonist sacrifices his own life. I strongly believe everyone can be touched by such plots of life and death, love and loss, and family and nation because all of these are instincts of human beings.