Life is Beautiful is an award-winning Italian comedy-drama that illustrates the power of defining a purpose in life. It follows the adventures of an energetic man, Guido, who falls in love with a schoolteacher named Dora, and ends up "coincidentally" crossing paths with her in a series of absurd incidents. Fast forward and Guido and Dora are married with a child named Joshua. However, Guido is a Jewish man living in Italy during World War II. Things take a turn for the worse when, on Joshua's birthday, him and his father are forced onto a crowded train with hundreds of other Jews and sent to a Nazi labor camp.
On the bus ride to the train, Guido keeps the dire truth of their predicament a secret from Joshua, instead telling his son that they are going on a special trip for his birthday. Dora, realizes what has happened, rushes to the train station, and begs an officer to be let onto the train. Upon arrival at the camp, men and women are split opposite ways, separating Guido and his wife. Meanwhile, Guido continues to hide the grim situation from his son. He tells him that the camp is merely a complicated game in which he must earn points through performing tasks such as staying hidden. If Joshua gets to one thousand points before the other "competitors", he will be rewarded with a tank. Each time Joshua has second thoughts about the game, Guido convinces him to continue.
Guido preserves this scenario right until the end. As the camp becomes chaotic due to the approaching Allied Forces, he gives his son one last task: stay hidden in a box until everybody has left. Guido goes to find Dora, but he is caught by a German soldier who marches him to his death. While he is walking, Guido passes by Joshua one last time but maintains character, as he knows that it his last task to do so. Guido is then shot and left in an alleyway. The next morning, Joshua emerges from the box, and a US Army tanks arrive liberating the camp. Joshua is overjoyed about winning the game (unaware that his father is dead). While travelling to safety, Joshua spots and is reunited with his mother.
The sacrifices Guido made for his son bares a resemblance to Jesus' Crucifixion. According to biblical teachings, Jesus suffered and died for those that he loved. Similarly, Guido suffered through persecution and did everything in his power to preserve the innocence of his son, in doing so, saving Joshua and teaching him an important lesson: there can be hope in bleak situations.
Life would have no meeting without purpose. Guido's purpose was to ensure that his son's innocence, and even more importantly, hope, were preserved. This was the driving force that kept him going, even when he was forced to carry heavy anvils day in and day out in a blazing hot factory. Dora's purpose was to simply be with her family, even if it meant suffering along with them. This is because living out her life knowing that her family is suffering greatly in some way would bring her even more suffering than choosing to be with her husband and son until the very end. By making the Holocaust into a "game" for his son, Guido redefined Joshua's purpose from what could have been a grim fight for his life into a challenging activity with a great reward. In this sense, Guido saved Joshua's life in both the literal, physical sense and the mental, spiritual sense. When one comes to realize a clear and defined purpose in life, they can focus on it with all their will. Guido teaches his son that his purpose can be defined as whatever he wants it to be, if he really believes in it, and even in horrible situations.
Even though the plot of this movie is a fictionalized take on a dark time in history, there are key lessons that can be taken from it. Every life has a purpose, so we must live in the present, not worrying about the future, which is not in our control. Guido did not live in fear or death, as he simply wanted the best for his son and made that his purpose in life. We cannot be fixated on the bleakness of a situation. We should instead look for the light or positive side of things. There is a phrase that embodies this sentiment: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that's why they call it the present."
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