Life is Beautiful



The Orefice family in the movie Life is Beautiful 

                                          
The movie Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni, shows the protagonist, who is an Italian Jew his felicitous life before he was sent to the holocaust. Roberto Benigni played as the protagonist, Guido. Guido had been in a relationship thanks to his humor. After being married to his wife, Dora, and having his son, Giousue, he is called by the military and told Guido that he, his uncle, and his son to get in a train. The destination the train was heading was a Nazi concentration camp. Guido’s  wife, who was not a Jew went up to the officer and demanded to be sent off as well. This shows how a person can throw away one’s life for another, showing the courage of human spirit. When the family arrives at the camp Guido’s son who was clearly clueless of the situation asks his dad where he was. Then Guido answers that this is a fun camp where they play games to earn points and win a tank. Guido entertains his son and at the same time keep the truth of the situation they are in. As the movie shows the life in the concentration camp the protagonist, Guido shows how bright a human spirit still can be in an infernal place. He translates German, which he doesn’t know for his son by translating the words wrong on purpose making the viewers of the movie see the brightness and courage of the human spirit. The movie showed how the spirit of a human being can still be bright even in a situation like the Nazi Concentration camp. The reason why Guido’s spirit was bright was because for the love of his family, he was able to do such humorous stuff, which protected his son. At the end Guido dies, but he dies dressed up as a woman. This showed how bright Guido’s spirit was from the start to end of his life and showed how a spirit can stay bright and strong as long as there is a meaning for being alive.


Bibliography :
                          http://blogs.salon.com/0002090/images/lifeisbeautiful.jpg (picture)
                          
                          http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/

                          http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000905/

Night: Father and Son

                                                                                                      photo of the Jewish blocks

After the services were done and was ended with a Kaddish, Elie went off looking for his father to wish him a happy year, but when he found his father leaning against a wall with his shoulders bent, sagging, Elie was speechless of what he saw. No words came out of him. The only thing Elie had done after he saw his father was he took his father’s hand and kissed it. Then he felt a tear on his hand wondering who dropped the tear. When Elie felt a tear drop on his hand he says, “Never before had we understood each other so clearly”(69) and Elie says this because he thinks his father dropped the tear because he lost faith in God, but as a Jew you would believe in God. In this case we see Elie giving up on believing in God, his savior.  During the celebration Elie’s father didn't show up at the Appelplatz,  and Elie thinks his father and him understood each other in a way where they both lost faith in God. How can Elie wish a happy year to his dad when they both understand one another that the situation they are in. For the 2 of them a happy year didn't come and would never occur as long as they are in the camp. The only thing they both know is that death is waiting for them every day.

Bibliography:
 Picture from: http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Buchenwald/BuchenwaldPhotos/WieselCloseup.jpg
           

http://library.thinkquest.org/12663/glossary.html

http://www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/1999/sites/wiesel/4445botr.jpg

http://www.ou.org/news/article/kaddish

Night "Eight Words"

                                                                                  Picture of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp
                                                http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/01/26/auschw_wideweb__430x292.jpg

In chapter 3 of the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel says, "Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight simple, short words" (29). The eight words that were spoken were the words the SS officer said “Men to the left! Women to the right!” (29), to Elie and the other Jews. In this event Elie and his family were being separated based on gender and to Elie this is unforgettable because it was the last time he ever saw his mother and sister’s face before they were sent to different camps. For him it was a very tragic happening that happened all of a sudden.  After being separated from his love ones it was a shock and an unforgettable moment. I think when love one’s you were always with disappears all of sudden, infront of your eyes, you wouldn’t be able to forget that exact moment it occured. That moment of seperation would not only stay in your head, but also leave pain inside your heart. The pain Elie's heart would remain deep inside, deep enough for him to not forget that moment he last saw his mother and sister's faces. The eight words not only stay in Elie’s mind, but made him cling to his father all the time. When he was separated from his mother and sisters the only one person he long lived with, and cared about was his father.  Elie and his father were both put in the male line and they both worked together. For Elie remaining close with his father was really the most important thing to him. He doesn’t want to lose his one and only father that he cares very excessive for. He works hard as his father and stays close with him all the way to Auschwitz. I think Elie would do whatever he can to remain close with his father. Elie would always be besides him in the camp’s work field and room. The eight words made him never forget that last moment he was seperated with his mother and sisters. After being seperated he remained besides his father all the way to Auschwitz.

               -http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189

               -http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/wiesel-bio.html

Schindler's List

Jewish moving into the ghetto similar to Schindler's list when the Jews were moving out of their homes and into the ghetto.

In the movie Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg, is setted  during WW2 in Cracow, Poland. In this setting the Jews were all forced to evacuate their homes and were forced to move into the Jewish ghettos in Cracow. The treatments the Jews  received from the outside Nazi’s were very cruel. They were told by the Germans to get out, leave their valuables, and seperate.Then they were transported into the compressed ghettos. In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel mentions how the other Jews that didn’t live near the ghetto area in Sighet were all forced to move into the ghetto with barbed wires surrounding them (11) just like in the movie where the ghettos were surrounded by Nazi’s and barb wires. In the story of Night, Elie mentions how he didn’t feel fear with the barbed wires, but felt normal because there were only Jews inside (11) and it was similar to the movie because when  the Jews in Schindler's List moved into the ghetto they were not all disgusted, but lived a normal life. The only ones who felt very opressed were the rich Jews who were disgusted with the conditions they were living in, a cracked wall, shared a small room with other Jews that were strangers to them. Both the movie and book shared a similar event when the Jews had to leave their valuables. In the movie the Nazi’s came into a  wealthy Jewish home and told the Jews to leave their house, including every valuables and in the book Night, Elie Wiesel says, “ A Jew was henceforth forbidden to own gold, jewelries, or any other valuables. Everything had to be handed to the authorities, under penalty of death.” (10-11). The Jews in both the movie and book were disappointed because they had to leave their valuables behind, including their home. Unfortunately both the Jews in Sighet and Cracow were limited of their freedom, trapped inside the ghetto. The only difference of the ghetto scene in the movie and the book was that in the movie Schindler decides to use the Jews to work for him with no cost by offering them to have time to get out of the ghetto and obtain goods that were not obtainable in the ghetto. Viewing the movie Schindler’s List and the book Night, both works displayed similar events such as, poor and cruel treatments the Jews were obtaining during WWII from the Nazi’s. Evacuation of the Jews from their homes; handing over valuables, and the limited freedom they had in the ghettos. The Jews were depressed because of these terms they had. The only things they can do during that time was to work, live in the ghettos, and stay healthy and pray till their freedom came. Unforutnately in both the movie and book the Jews remained in an infernal life.