In Fellini’s La Dolce
Vita, Marcello experiences several episodes of lust and adventure in and around Rome.
Each scene of the film is its own self-contained story arc, ascending in passion
as the dawn approaches. By the time the sun rises, he remains alone and envious. Marcello’s
career entails chronicling the lives of celebrities and famous people for the
press, and most of his endeavors cover women of different varieties. Whether it
was a sighting of the Madonna or a famous American actress, Marcello is there,
but he doesn’t take interest in witnessing these subjects for the press. In many
of his encounters, Marcello becomes submersed by lust and craving for a life
that he doesn’t have. For example, his encounter with the American actress entails
him following her everywhere, listening to her though never really
reciprocating in conversation. He yearns to please her, going off to find milk
for a stray cat, and following her into a knee-deep fountain. This desperation
is carried throughout the film, and is implied to continue even after the final
scene, where Marcello is aware of his actions and desires though still persists to catch the sweet life for himself.
“Life is Beautiful” follows Italian comedic tradition by conflating drama with humor, analogizing a concentration camp to a “game” one plays. In the midst of parodying the Orrefices’ experience in a concentration camp, Benigni neglects to factually portray the Holocaust. Instead of mindfully satirizing the holocaust, the film minimizes the horrors of genocide for the sake of comedy. While Benigni includes moments of historical accuracy, significant details of the plot and setting are unsound. Starved and brutalized by the Nazis, men and women in the concentration camp become emaciated, as demonstrated when they are inspected by German doctors. Guido, however, maintains his overall appearance throughout the film, as does his son. Further, one “game” Guido plays with his son involves dodging the routine shower times during which prisoners could be gassed. Given the keen organization of Nazi concentration camps, those moments in the film seem unrealistic. I believe Benigni created a dark comedy in which context and plot don’t match up, the background severed from foreground. The Holocaust serves as a convenient setting for a dark comedy, yet (in this case) not one in which comedy and fact are mutually integrated.
ReplyDelete^-Elizabeth
ReplyDelete