Character Analysis: Cinema Paradiso And Life Is Beautiful

Improved Essays
Cinema Paradiso and Life is Beautiful
In Life is Beautiful, Guido is a portrait of a very positive character, he celebrates the life with humor and laugh. Although, life comes with many turns and presents him with possibilities of happiness and sorrow, Guido always looks upon hope.
He has moments of serendipity when he is mistakenly saluted as a king and he starts pretending that he is a prince. The incident happens when his car takes a wrong turn and overtakes the arrival of the royal king makes the commoners wave and give homage to Guido.
Guido meets Dora at the first time when Dora falls from barn window into his lap and at the other chance Guido falls into Dora’s lap after Guido falls from his bicycle when the bicycle goes out of balance.
…show more content…
At the first day in the concentration camp, Guido understands nothing about German language yet audaciously offers himself as a translator to translate a German officer about camp’s rules. So convincing for Joshua, his son to believe every word spoken by Guido. Guido does that to protect the innocence of Joshua from the cruel reality of the concentration camp.
The turning point from comical plot to dramatic plot starts on the day of Joshua’s birthday. It is a dramatic scene, when Dora comes home with her mother and finds the house is ransacked, the German captured Guido and Joshua along with other Jews on that day. Guido’s future snatched and the Nazi treat Guido and the other Jews like subhuman, concentration camp becomes their home. Soon becomes their last stop before their death by the
…show more content…
With so much to offer from a single soul, giving others a purpose to continue living could overpower any persecution and oppression.
Guido, the protagonist in Life is Beautiful sets a perfect example of that character. In peacetime or in wartime, Guido never lost hope and good morale until his last breath. The oppressor can kill a body but cannot kill a soul. Even, when Guido walks to his death, he still shows his good morale for Joshua inside the hiding box. Guido shows the same gesture like the first time when he has arrested by the fascist secret police from his bookstore.
His life focuses to cherish Joshua and Dora. He puts himself at risk when he speaks through the public address system from an unattended control room just to comfort Dora and again he does another stunt by playing a record of songs from a window directed to Dora’s barrack to remind Dora about his love and all the beautiful moments they have shared

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    A summary of Much Ado about Nothing Much Ado about Nothing is a comedy play written by the famous author, William Shakespeare. The play is set in Messina about 1500 A.D. In the start of the play, Don Pedro of Aragon and his noblemen visit their good friend Leonato in Messina after having crushed an riot led by Don John, the prince’s half-brother. With him is the misogynistic and witty Bendick, the former flame of Leonato’s sharped-tonged and fierce niece Beatrice. The former couple are both very stubborn and proud.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Summary: As the Jews arrive in the Concentration Camp, they are to leave their belongings in the train car. Men are sent to the left, women to the right. Already, some Jews are being beaten and shot. Eliezer’s one thought is not to lose his father.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the novel “The Sun Also Rises,” by Ernest Hemingway, the characters are often represented as “lost” both mentally and physically, in negative and positive ways. This is evident when Brett announces, “I won’t be one of those bitches,” exclaiming that she is finally coming to realize who she wants to be and what she wants from a man(247). This is negative because she was “lost” and was abusing her self-worth proving that she was physically misusing her body, but mentally she thought she was smart enough to not be “one of those bitches.” The main character Jake however, was “lost” in a positive way as he thinks to himself, “It felt strange to be in France again. There was a safe, suburban feeling,” explaining that Jake felt comfort…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, directed by Milos Forman is a piece of art. Forman was meticulous in his direction of the film by keying in on specific aspects, and by incorporating distinct camera elements into the film. Forman compiled the camera elements of camera work as well as costumes and make-up to accurately depict his image. The movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, incorporates a variety of camera work elements.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In my essay, I am going to analyse how William Shakespeare developed conflicts to show emotion in Much Ado about Nothing. The conflict of Claudio embarrassing Hero and stopping the wedding in front of all the towns’ people, was created by Claudio viewing what he interpreted to be Hero and Barachio kissing and sharing an intimate moment in Hero’s chambers. However, as we (the audience) know, it wasn’t really Hero in the window, it was Hero’s cousin Margaret.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Jewish prisoners have to give up their families and freedom. As soon as Wiesel swaps his name for the identity A-7713, he no longer feels valued. After they are sorted and deprived of…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Jennifer Vo Thelma and Louise is a story about two women who decide to go on a trip, but it does not go as planned. The premise is a classic adventure story about friends who plan a great adventure; however, they hit bumps in the road, but the problems they endure help them define themselves. In the three act breakdown, act I is the planning of the trip to taking off on the trip, act II is the runaway from all their troubles, which leads to act III Thelma and Louise tries to escape and their official acceptance of an identity as criminals. The film sets up their escape perfectly through the methods of character development and foreshadowing. Character development allows the viewer to come to terms with the ending of the film.…

    • 2228 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pedro Almodovar’s twentieth feature film, Julieta, chronicles the title character’s life as she is forced to reflect upon her riddled past and confront the tragic circumstances that surround the disappearance of her daughter. Almodovar based Julieta off of a series of short stories written by Nobel Prize winning author Alice Munro, which follow three stages of a Canadian woman’s life who faces similar circumstances. At it’s conception, Julieta was intended to be Almodovar 's first English-language film; however Almodovar was not confident writing the script in English and settled on setting the film in Spain and making it in Spanish. The New York Film Festival was the film’s American debut and both leading actresses as well as Almodovar were present for the occasion. Julieta relates to the trends identified in global art cinema by displaying symbolic and ambiguous aesthetics, depending on festival circuits rather than studio distribution, and employing…

    • 1366 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    English Assignment 1 Romeo and Juliet Olwethu Masiza 16013255 Question 2 : Filmic devices This essay will discuss the different filmic devices in Romeo and Juliet, namely extreme close-up; low angle shot; tilt; zoom and flashback, and why Baz Luhrmann has chosen to use each one of these filmic devices. Luhrmann has chosen to use all these different camera shots so that he creates a meaningful scene full of mixed emotions. Extreme close up is when the camera zooms in very closely to a particular subject, for example, the nose, eye or mouth fills most of the frame.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Holocaust through Symbolism When thinking of a monumental catastrophe, one life changing event that comes to mind is the Holocaust. Not only were families separated and many cities damaged during the Holocaust, but there were striking amounts of casualties. All damages due to the Holocaust were unfairly endured by innocent human beings who were unfortunately treated like animals. The events leading up to the mass murders were unexpected causing a shock felt all around the world.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The stories "An Adventure in Paris"(NASF. 493) by Guy De Maupassant and "Everyday Use"(NASF. 816) by Alice Walker showcase similar and different ways to present a story through point of view and characters. Both stories have characters that are functional and symbolic to the story. Each of these stories uses both a foil and utilitarian through one character, Dee and Jean Varin, that ultimately changes the protagonist for the better and allows them to see what they have. De Maupassant makes his story a mix of third-person story telling and first-person experience to expose the extremity of a woman's curiosity. Meanwhile, Walker only uses the first person narration, which gives us perspective into the protagonist’s mind.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Noah Spencer Professor Travis Sutton RTVF 1320 20 April 2016 American Beauty: The Beauty of True Character American Beauty is a 1999 drama film directed by independent filmmaker Samuel Mendes. The main cast stars Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, Annette Bening co-stars as his wife, Carolyn Burnham and Thora Birch stars as their daughter, Jane Burnham. Another major character is Jane’s best friend, Angela, played by Mena Suvari. The film follows the midlife crisis of middle-aged man Mr. Burnham and his attraction to his daughter’s young friend Angela.…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, is a futuristic dystopian film that depicts a stark contrast between social classes within a society. The scene takes place underground and shows the shift change of the workers within the working class, a perfect example of the societal differences. In this film sequence using staging, cinematography and editing, Fritz Lang is able to express a hyperbolic representation of dominant ideologies revolving the working class. The setting and space in the sequence emphasizes the bleak atmosphere in the workers lives.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The film Hearts and Minds is a documentary made by Peter Davis in 1974 to portray America’s unethical involvement in Vietnam and examine the opinions of many by showing interviews and vivid footages. The film focuses more on those who were against the war than those who supported it. For the U.S. all that mattered was the victory. However, those who were opposed to the war felt that there was no right or reasonable justification for their actions. The real issue illustrated by the film was whether the U.S. wanted to protect the country from communism or to manifest its greatest power in the world by winning another war.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Pursuit of Happyness - Film Analysis. Directed by Italian director, Gabriele Muccino, and inspired by a true story, The Pursuit of Happyness takes place in the hard streets of San Francisco in the 1980s. Chris Gardner, the main character played by Will Smith, is trying to fulfill the legacy of the American Dream, but his family is in quite the struggle. Chris is attempting to make a living and provide for his family by selling bone density scanners (similar to an x-ray machine, but with slightly better picture and much more pricey) to doctor’s offices and other medical facilities. Chris has a way with people, and he has the potential to do much more with his life due to his determination and daily grind of providing for his five-year-old…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays