It’s difficult to convince yourself to watch a serious, depressing movie, but it’s perhaps even more difficult to watch a funny, depressing movie. American films tend to portray serious, traumatic events like war as either strictly drama or strictly comedy, and it’s clear what “side” the film chooses. Take “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), where the film makes clear that it will be a harrowing drama from the graphic, opening battle scene, just as in “M*A*S*H” (1972), where the film markets itself as a comedy immediately with its cast of goofy, army surgeons.
Making an effective dramatic and comedic war film presents many difficulties, the most obvious being the fact that the film could be perceived as a mockery of human suffering.
However, the Italian film “Life is Beautiful” (1977) explores life during the Holocaust from the perspective of a Jewish, Italian family in a way that doesn’t limit itself to drama or comedy, instead presenting both life and suffering in a uniquely fragile way.
Through WWII, Italy suffered not only the rise and fall of dictator Benito Mussolini but also Nazi occupation and imprisonment. “Life is Beautiful” follows a funny Italian-Jew Guido’s romantic pursuit of a schoolteacher, Dora, as they live through the Holocaust, making you wonder why you’re laughing at such tragedy.
Unlike films like “Schindler’s List” (1993) where tragedy can emotionally exhaust the viewer, the comedy of “Life is Beautiful” reinvigorates and disrupts the viewer. It brings a jarring, critical eye to a scene to which you may “go numb” in a pure drama. The film is split into two sections: life pre-Holocaust and life mid-Holocaust. At first, the comedy appears benign; tragedy awaits but you can laugh without feeling uneasy.
As the film transitions into life during the Holocaust, it raises the stakes of its comedy, thus raising the stakes of the laughs. Soon, you’re caught laughing when people are actually dying.
In one funny scene, Guido fakes being a macho, Fascist inspector visiting Dora’s elementary school.
He, of course, visits the school to woo Dora but must pass as an inspector by performing a Fascist speech for the school about why Aryans are the superior.
The scene is obviously comedic, as the real inspector even runs down the hallway to catch him, but its comedy stems from the film’s decision to have it be comedic without consequences.
Later, imprisoned in an internment camp, Guido volunteers to translate a Nazi officer’s rules, making up funny, Italian mis-translations. This reaserts the film’s serious tone by reminding the audience of the prisoners’ life and death situation.
In other moments, the film’s comedy seems to reject its seriousness. While in the camp, Guido tries to protect his son, Joshua, by convincing him that the camp is a children’s game.
When Joshua tells his father he heard that they make buttons and soap out of people, Guido laughs, saying, “Just imagine, tomorrow morning I wash my hands with Bartolomeo!” (a cellmate). His comment is funny but graphic, leading the viewer to feel potentially confused about laughing at the extreme expense of others.
In addition to using comedy in an effective, unconventional way, “Life is Beautiful” is a classic film and a must-see. It’s a film that will make you laugh and cry.
While of course many other films use comedy to explore war, several other Italian films juxtapose suffering with comedy well, such as “La Strada” (1954) and “Seven Beauties” (1975). While drama may depict the horrors of war more accurately, films like “Life is Beautiful” bring new, critical energy to drama, offering the viewer a strange, uniquely unsettling experience of war and human suffering.