Life Is Beautiful (1997) - Movie Review

When I first heard about the Italian movie Life Is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella), I was shocked to discover that it was a comedy about the Holocaust. The articles that appeared in the papers bespoke of many that found even the concept of the Holocaust portrayed as a comedy to be offensive. Others believed that it belittled the experiences of the Holocaust by inferring that the horrors could be ignored by a simple game. I, too, thought, how could a comedy about the Holocaust possibly be done well? What a fine line the director (Roberto Benigni) was walking when portraying such a horrendous subject as a comedy. Yet I also remembered my feelings to the two volumes of Maus by Art Spiegelman - a story of the Holocaust portrayed in comic-strip format. It was months before I dared read it, and only then because it was assigned reading in one of my college classes. Once I started reading, I couldnt put them down. I thought they were wonderful. I felt the format, surprisingly, added to the books power, rather than distracting from it. So, remembering this experience, I went to see Life Is Beautiful. Act 1: Love Although I had been wary of its format before the movie began, and I even fidgeted in my seat, wondering if I was too far from the screen to read the sub-titles, it took only minutes from the films beginning for me to be smiling as we met Guido (played by Roberto Benigni - also the writer and director). With a brilliant mixture of comedy and romance, Guido used flirtatious random encounters (with a few not so random ones) to meet and woo the school teacher Dora (played by Nicoletta Braschi - Benignis real-life wife), whom he calls Princess (Principessa in Italian). My favorite part of the movie is a masterful, yet hilarious, sequence of events involving a key, time, and a hat - youll understand what I mean when you see the film (I dont want to give too much away before you see it). Guido successfully charms Dora, even though she had been engaged to a fascist official, and gallantly retrieves her while riding on a green painted horse (the green paint on his uncles horse was the first act of anti-Semitism that is shown in the film and really the first time you learn that Guido is Jewish). During Act I, the movie-goer almost forgets he came to see a movie about the Holocaust. All that changes in Act 2. Act 2: The Holocaust The first act successfully creates the characters of Guido and Dora; the second act delves us into the problems of the times. Now Guido and Dora have a young son, Joshua (played by Giorgio Cantarini) who is bright, loved, and doesnt like to take baths. Even when Joshua points out a sign in a window that says Jews are not allowed, Guido makes up a story to protect his son from such discrimination. Soon the life of this warm and funny family is interrupted by deportation. While Dora is away, Guido and Joshua are taken and placed in cattle cars - even here, Guido tries to hide the truth from Joshua. But the truth is plain to the audience - you cry because you know what is really happening and yet smile through your tears at the obvious effort Guido is making to hide his own fears and calm his young son. Dora, who had not been picked up for deportation, chooses to board the train anyway in order to be with her family. When the train unloads at a camp, Guido and Joshua are separated from Dora. It is at this camp that Guido convinces Joshua they are to play a game. The game consists of 1,000 points and the winner gets a real military tank. The rules are made up as time goes on. The only one that is fooled is Joshua, not the audience, nor Guido. The effort and love that emanated from Guido are the messages relayed by the movie - not that the game would save your life. The conditions were real, and though the brutality was not shown as directly as in Schindlers List, it was still very much there. My Opinion In conclusion, I must say that I think Roberto Benigni (the writer, director, and actor) created a masterpiece that touches your heart - not only do your cheeks hurt from smiling/laughing, but your eyes burn from the tears. As Benigni himself stated, ...I am a comedian and my way is not to show directly. Just to evoke. This to me was wonderful, the balance to comedy with the tragedy.* Academy Awards On March 21, 1999, Life Is Beautiful won Academy Awards for . . . Best Actor (Roberto Benigni)Best Foreign Language FilmOriginal Dramatic Score (Nicola Piovani) * Roberto Benigni as quoted in Michael Okwu, Life Is Beautiful Through Roberto Benignis Eyes, CNN 23 Oct. 1998 (http://cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9810/23/life.is.beautiful/index.html).

One Mans Freedom Fighter, Another Mans Terrorist Essay

Historical Inquiry - Terrorism Abstract What defines terrorism or freedom fighting depends upon a number of factors. Motivation as a factor in defining terrorism or freedom fighting is particularly significant as it forms the basis of Macquarie’s dictionary definition, â€Å"someone who joins in organised resistance usually armed against the established government, or the domination of his or her country by a foreign power† . Therefore it can be stated that a freedom fighters goal is to liberate oppressed people from foreign powers. Where as the motivation of terrorists might also stem from a want of freedom but also has its foundations in other sources, such as religious conflict, more personal motivators such as anger, frustration,†¦show more content†¦Fatah was a â€Å"revolutionary† movement founded in 1959 that consisted of Palestinians who had become disillusioned by the Arab politicians who subordinated the Palestinian issue to their interests and policy, seemingly manipulating it accor dingly . The Palestinian issue is the issue regarding the Palestinians exile from their homeland at gunpoint from the Zionists officially exiled when the Zionist oppressors in 1948 Declared Israel’s independence. Fatah believed that â€Å"before [1967], the Palestinians orbited around the Arab State; now Fatah tries to stage a Copernican revolution, and reverse the relationship† . 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Business and the air we breathe Free Essays

In December of 2008, the government’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency, decided that new power facilities are exempted from the requirement of installing mechanisms that will decrease the amount of carbon dioxide the plants emit into the atmosphere (David Fahrenthold, Steven Mufson, 2008). This action was adopted despite the resistance from environment oriented organizations (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). The ruling, signed by EPA Administrator Stephen L. We will write a custom essay sample on Business and the air we breathe or any similar topic only for you Order Now Johnson, is anchored on an old statute that could be pivotal in the future operations of the power plants under the ambit of the Clean Air Act (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). In the administration of former President Bush, the EPA has been inclined to dismiss the idea that greenhouse gases can be lumped together with soot, smog triggers and various types of air pollution (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). The case for the classification of carbon dioxide in the category of an air polluting element began in the issuance of a permit for the construction of a power plant in Bonanza, Utah (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). An environmental group, the Sierra Club, had challenged the permit for the plant (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). In its motion, the group argued that the plant must first undertake mechanisms to decrease its emissions of carbon dioxide (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). In a hearing of the EPA’s Appeals Board, a body tasked to hear issues regarding rulings and procedures of the body, the group made its case against the plant (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). The group cited a statute that would require that the power plants must avail of the optimum technology to make the plants regulate the emission of all monitored pollutive substances (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). This is parallel to the reminder of the group to the decision of the April 2007 ruling of the Supreme Court (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). In that decision, Massachusetts vs. EPA (549 U.S. ___ (2007) (The Oyez Project, 2009), the Supreme Court ruled on the question whether the EPA has the power to monitor carbon dioxide and other pollutants (Oyez, 2009). In a 5-4 decision, that power was affirmed by the Supreme Court (Oyez, 2009). The case mainly stemmed from the action of the EPA in a seeming abrogation of that power (Environmental Defense Fund, 2008). In the majority decision with Justice John Paul Stevens as ponente, or author, the court ruled that the agency cannot abandon its responsibility and duty under the law to monitor the emissions of air pollutants into the air (Linda Greenhouse, 2007). Court litigations have been put on hold among them the earlier case of emissions from power facilties (Greenhouse, 2007). Stevens, joined in the decision by Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Breyer and Stephen Souter, decided that the EPA did not do anything in court than just present a list of items that the agency will not monitor (Greenhouse, 2007). The ruling of the Supreme Court however does not order that the Federal government conduct and enact programs to combat pollution emission (Environmental, 2008). But it is inferred that the United States Congress enact legislation to found a program for the purpose (Environmental, 2008). Massachusetts, among the parties, that did have a legal standing before the Court, was vindicated in its appeal against the EPA (Environmental, 2008). It is in the opinion of the Court that the matter be sent to Congress for final disposition (Environmental, 2008). In their opinion, air pollutants, as those emitted by the power facilities as well as motor vehicles, on which the Massachusetts case hinged, did not qualify as such under the ambit of the Clean Air Act (Environmental, 2008). In their decision, the Court ruled that it is within the scope of the powers of the EPA to regulate such pollutants (Environmental, 2008). The only exception is that if the pollutants do not contribute to the crisis of global warming (Environmental, 2008). But the EPA decided otherwise. This in complete defiance of a ruling by the United States Supreme Court in April of 2007 that carbon dioxide can be classified as an air pollutant that should be monitored under the Clean Air Act (Fahrenthold, Mufson, 2008). In the same way, the EPA granted the same exemptions to power plants emitting mercury beyond the lawful regulations (Fox News, 2008). In a decision handed down by a Federal Appeals court, the court overturned the policy of the Bush administration that stated that the government can let power plants exceed limits set for emission of the poisonous mercury element (Fox News, 2008). About a dozen state authorities had opposed the EPA regulation, saying that if the regulation had pushed through, it would release notoriously high amounts of mercury into the atmosphere (Fox News, 2008). How to cite Business and the air we breathe, Papers