Life is good and life is beautiful: La vita e bella

[Gloria]

LA VITA E BELLA: BOOK REVIEW

Life is good and life is beautiful but “beauty” is just part of life because life is how we perceive it. Life is good and life is beautiful because the ONE who created life is the ultimate "goodness" and the ultimate "beauty". Goodness is a characteristic of life but living life in itself may “not” be that good. Beauty is also a characteristic of life but living life in itself may not be that beautiful. Life therefore is how we perceive it. How beautiful and how good depends on our perception and how we interpret it to meet our little understanding. According to Guido’s Uncle, “Nothing is more necessary than the unnecessary” but that doesn’t mean that the unnecessary is the only “necessary” thing but just that the unnecessary can be as necessary as those we consider necessary.

Life in itself is therefore nothing less than the unnecessary because the unnecessary can be as necessary as possible and how necessary we consider life depends on our perception. The Nazis for example did not have the true understanding of life. The Nazis considered themselves the only necessary beings (superior) where as the Jewish people were unnecessary (Inferior). But the reality is that the Jewish people who were considered unnecessary were as necessary as the Nazis and hence the Nazis who considered the Jewish people unnecessary were the ones deceiving themselves. For example, when the Nazi lady fell down, Guido’s Uncle was the nearest to give her a helping hand. The lady did not refuse the helping hand but gave Guido’s Uncle a devilish look once she was up on her feet.

The Nazis wasted their precious time painting on the horse “ A Jewish horse” because they thought that in so doing, they were making the horse an unnecessary horse but the reality still remains. The painted horse was still a horse and Guido proved that by riding on the painted horse. Some things are better left undiscovered. In other words, some things are better left unknown but which one to discover and which one to leave undiscovered depends on how ready and may be how well we can cope with those discovered things. Giorsue (the little boy) was asking too many questions because he wanted to know. Giorsue was asking too making questions because he wanted to discover what was going on. Giorsue and Dora however couldn’t have won the “game” if Giorsue got to know what was going on. Both Dora and Giorsue “won” at last but Dora was freed from torture while little Giorsue had won the “game”. One may say Guido was deceiving the little boy into believing that the whole thing was just a game. However, little Giorsue was pushed forward to learn what he shouldn’t learn and the only way to protect little Giorsue from knowing the unknown is to present the unknown as if it was known already and that was what Guido did. Pain is a sensation and naturally humans react to pain in such a way that one can feel what is going on deep within a person experiencing pain. Most of the Jewish Prisoners for example looked sick and tired and their sorrows were written all over their faces.

However, Guido wouldn’t react to his pain and he wouldn’t make known his sorrow. Guido was suffering deep within him but due to his love for his son, Guido managed to laugh even in reaction to pain. Guido sacrificed himself for his son. Guido lost his life due to his love for Dora. Guido wanted to make sure Dora was safe even though he Guido wasn’t safe. Dora did not deserve to suffer in a concentration camp because she wasn’t a Jewish. However, Dora decided to sacrifice herself for her family. She decided to leave all behind and to join them in their pain and sorrow so they may feel her presence and her love even in the death camp.

This story is a typical Christian story because it is full of Christian teachings and values. Important themes such as Love, Obedience and commitment run throughout this story. Dora for example did not deserve to suffer in a death camp because she wasn’t a Jewish. Jesus Christ according to the Bible did not have to suffer on the cross because Jesus was not a sinner. Due to her love for her family, Dora decided to leave everything behind and to join them even in death camp. Due to His love for us, Jesus Christ left his kingdom behind and came down to take the cross upon himself so that we may be saved. Another important theme in this story is perseverance. For example, even when Guido was been taking to the corner to be shot, Guido still managed to march “playfully” so as to ensure the little boy (Giorsue) who was hiding in that little box that everything was just part of the game. Even on the cross, Jesus still managed to pray for us so the father may forgive us because we do not know what we are doing.

According to Christianity, the human person is the handwork of God and God created the human person in his own image and likeness. God created the human person after He created almost everything but He put the human person in charge of almost all the things He has created. This shows the importance of the human person according to Christianity. God made man from dust and He gave man the breath of life and man became a living soul. The human person according to Christianity is made up of both the material and the immaterial parts. (Body, mind and spirit)
The dust is a material from the earth and hence forms the body of the human person. The breath of life comes from something immaterial (God) and hence forms the spiritual part of the human person. The human person according to Christianity is something good because God created it. The breath of life comes from God and hence it is good. The body (dust) is something from the earth and it is good because the earth is something good. In the beginning, When God created man, man was spotless and there was no sin.

The bond (relationship) between man and God was very great in the beginning when God created man. Once man disobeyed God, this bond was broken and man became separated from God. But God still loves Man and He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to come and restore this bond and that whosoever believes in Him may get eternal life. Everything that has a beginning has an end and the end of everything is death. Man has a beginning and hence an end but the end of man is death. However, He who believes in Jesus Christ as the true Son of God and as personal savior, even though dead, may rise again as Christ Did and enjoy life in eternity with God.
The Christian view of the Human person makes great sense to me.

If this world is our final destination then there is no meaning to life because we were just born to suffer and die. I personally belief in life after death because we are not meaningless. Whether there is life after death or nothing after death is just another question but there is one truth and one absolute answer and that is that Jesus Christ of Nazareth died and rose up again. However, I wouldn’t have believed in Christianity if Jesus rose from the death without anybody seeing him. But Jesus rose from the dead and people saw him with their naked eyes and people touched him with their bare hands and that to me is enough proof that there is life after death.

It took me a lot of time to read your philosophical ideology and at the end of day i believe that life is a precious gift of God. It totally depends on us how to make it beautiful regardless the bitter realities of life.

I did a paper based on this film and your article helped me a lot. Thanks very much for sharing this article. Life is beautiful so let us all live, love and respect life.

[jammartin]

Life is indeed good and beautiful, make the most of it.

Thank you so much , I value your time it took for you to compose this Summary . It help me complete my essay , which I was ready to fail , but thanks to you , I won't !