Life Is Beautiful

[Xmac]

I highly recommend the movie Life Is Beautiful. It's not apparent until about the second half of the movie why it is so profound. At this point, I'm not going to ruin it for anyone who wants to see it, but be warned, later posts will talk about the ending. So, don't read any further if you don't want to know how it ends.

[catherine]

Seen it--yes, it is a wonderful movie. Roberto Benigni won the Oscar for Best Actor. Does anyone remember his acceptance speech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTR6fk8frs)? If you saw it, you're bound to remember it.

[Xmac]

If ever there was an example of how the story creates one's reality, it was that movie. They're in
a Nazi prison camp and the little boy didn't suffer, at least not much. I know in real life, it would have been
quite a strain for a father to keep the happy story alive, but it demonstrates that the suffering the other kids
underwent was only available to his son when, for a short time, he believed the horror story too.

It reminds me of Victor Frankl's struggle in a real life concentration camp. I suppose there's the possibility that his story could have had some influence on the writing of the movie. I don't know.

[Xmac]

Seen it--yes, it is a wonderful movie. Roberto Benigni won the Oscar for Best Actor. Does anyone remember his acceptance speech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTR6fk8frs)? If you saw it, you're bound to remember it.

So! He didn't have to act much in the film huh?
Ya, quite memorable.

[catherine]

It is difficult to sit here and say that choosing your story and having a good attitude is all you needed to get through the Holocaust. I wouldn't presume to say that, but as you said, that's basically what Victor Frankl taught.

I have a short list of life-changing books that I've read and treasure. The first of those is The Diary of Anne Frank, which I read for the first time when I was about 12, and I'm always amazed at parts of it. Here's a passage she wrote when she was almost two years in hiding.


"..At such moments I don't think about all the misery, but about the beauty that still remains. This is where Mother and I differ greatly. Her advice in the face of melancholy is: 'Think about all the suffering in the world and be thankful you're not part of it.' My advice is: 'Go outside, to the country, enjoy the sun and all nature has to offer. Go outside and try to recapture the happiness within yourself; think of all the beauty in yourself and in everything around you and be happy.'

"I don't think Mother's advice can be right, because what are you supposed to do if you become part of the suffering? You'd be completely lost. On the contrary, beauty remains, even in misfortune.

Wow. The fact that she held fast to that in the face of what she was encountering is just amazing. And two weeks before she was found and captured by the Nazis she said,


"It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."

Wow.