The plot of this movie is really interesting. The movie is about a Jewish- Italian waiter named Guido Orefice who meets a woman named Dora and wins her over with his charm and witty personality. They eventually get married and have a child named Giosue. However, their happy life comes to an abrupt stop when Guido and Giosue are separated together from Dora. They are taken to a concentration camp that only allows men. To shield his son from the horror of the camp, Guido decided to turn the whole experience into a game. By creating tasks and goals, Guido manages to mask the cruelty that surrounds him and his son.
I liked the style of film making. The camera angles were extremely artist and showed the different perspectives of various characters. For example, in one scene, many people were talking in a room full of bunk beds. The camera slowly progressed across the room so the more and more people were incorporated into the shot. In another scene, someone was hiding in a box with eye hole cutouts and watching scene transpire around him. The scene was shot from inside the box at some points, making the viewer understand the perspective of character in hiding. I felt that the actors and actresses were very moving. Five minutes into the movie, I forgot I was reading subtitles and felt that I was observing the interactions of people who I understood. I think it is very interesting how they incorporated a comedic aspect into a topic of much gravity. This is a very difficult thing to do with any film and they did a very good job with it. The music really fit the scenes well. It was not over the top and excessive. It was simple which overall, increased the quality of the film. It was amazing how the film managed to find beauty in such horrible conditions.
I throughly enjoyed this film. It made me laugh and made me cry. Films that can both of these things well and are really incredible and hard to come by. It was a story of love and dedication and struggles endured throughout many years. Although the film many taken place many years ago, it felt very real and present, even now. I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to watch something moving and powerful. This movie will make you think about many different things. It will make you think about family and love. It will make you think about the oppressed people and families living through the holocaust. It will make you think about puzzling and unbelievable human cruelty. It will make you think about the power of discriminatory beliefs and how far people will go to protect the things they love. For example, the father goes through incredible lengths and danger to protect his son from the danger of the concentration camps supervisors. The mother sacrifices her life to be with her family.