1.
Only by dipping in the blood of real life can we write works that shock the soul.
In July 1943, the world's largest tank battle was raging in Kursk, a hilly region in central Russia.
The warring sides, Russia and Germany, invested a total of 13,000 tanks. Among them, there was a tank that perhaps became a prize for the game of a Jewish child two years later.
In the same month of the same year, a Nazi concentration camp was erected near the villages of Bergen and Belson in northwestern Hanover, Germany. It was at this time that Bernini, an Italian Jew, was sent in.
The camp, which was partly a prisoner-of-war barracks and partly Jews, was designed to have a capacity of 10,000 people. But by the end of the war, the number of people imprisoned here had reached 41,000. That's not counting the 37,000 people who died in concentration camps. Every day there are bulldozers that push corpses into piles of people. Hunger, disease, overwork, and dirty circumstances, for any reason, are enough to take a life—the least valuable thing here. Anne Frank, the girl who wrote The Diary of Anne Frank, died of typhoid fever in the camp.
Bernini, a Jew, was imprisoned in the camp for two years until the German-Italian alliance broke up. Perhaps it is the experience of wandering on the brink of life and death for a long time, this farmer, carpenter, and mason has been able to use a calm attitude to ridicule this obscure life. He also taught his 4 children to be able to spot the shining side in the dark.
His youngest son, Roberto Bernini, understood and implemented his father's philosophy of life well. Even if he grew up in a hut with no electricity and no water, and was crammed into a bed with his mother and 3 sisters, this embarrassment did not make him lose his optimism. At the age of 10, he fell in love with stage acting, working as a clown and magician assistant. His idol was Chaplin.
After graduating from junior high school, he entered a seminary in Florence. Because the school was destroyed by a flood, he switched to an accounting school and used his free time to work on movies. After graduation, he went straight to Rome to make a living as a comedian.
By 1997, the 45-year-old Roberto Bernini had become a well-known Italian film director. His comedic performance experience and life experience are enough to support him to shoot some grand and profound social themes.
In the end, he chose to build on the experience of his father, the lucky man who escaped from the Nazi concentration camps, and used his optimism and comedic approach to create a screenplay called "A Beautiful Life."
2.
The scenery is so beautiful, pigeons fly everywhere.
After the release of "Beautiful Life", it became a hit in the film industry at that time.
Although the world film scene in 1997 was not as brilliant as in 1994, it also gave birth to a number of classic film classics such as "Titanic" (Douban 9.4 points), "Nanhai Thirteen Lang" (Douban 9.2 points), "Soul Catcher" (Douban 8.9 points), "Spring Break" (Douban 8.9 points), "A Thousand Guns and One Shot" (Douban 8.8 points) and so on.
"Beautiful Life", a total of 784,000 people evaluated, Douban 9.5 points. Ranked 6th in the Douban movie top250.
In 1998, Bernini accepted an invitation from the Vatican to screen the film for the Pope. When he returned, he said that the pope stayed with him for 3 hours, and even the president of the United States at the time did not enjoy this "treatment".
There is also a saying: after the trial screening of "A Beautiful Life" at the Cannes Film Festival, the entire audience stood up and applauded for 12 minutes.
This year, the 23rd anniversary of the release of "A Beautiful Life", the 4K restored version of the film is about to be released in China. In fact, I've revisited it many times before that. Bernini's ingenious narrative technique, ingenious detailing, and the imagination, humor, and real emotions from "personal experience" displayed in the film are still heart-wrenching even after many re-viewings.
Let's walk into "A Beautiful Life" together and see how this film has touched audiences all over the world.
3
The life of the male protagonist Guido is divided into two parts.
The first part is a humorous, witty, and courageous love story;
The second part is a sinister, intelligent, imaginative parent-child story;
How happy the first half is, how regretful the second half is.
The story is set in Italy in the 1940s.
When guido, an optimistic and humorous Jewish youth, and his friends drive through a farm, they happen to meet a young girl who "falls from the sky", "good morning, princess", a greeting, leading the development of the whole film.
In order to meet his "princess" again, Guido pretended to be an inspector from Rome to visit the school, but was invited to the stage by the headmaster. Guido stood on the table and began a serious "nonsense", which caused the students in the audience to laugh. The "princess" was stunned but attracted by his uniqueness.
From school to the Venice Theater, Guido misinterpreted Schopenhauer's "determinism of will", silently chanting "Look at me and I see me", not expecting that "The Princess" really looked over.
The rainy night walk after that is the key plot of Guido and the "Princess" love for life. On the night of heavy rain, the red carpet is spread on the steps, and the two walk together, which may be the plot of countless girls' dreams.
When it is learned that the "princess" is about to be engaged to the administrative officer of the house, Guido becomes the attendant of the engagement banquet.
At this time, the two already had a heart to heart, and the "princess" went under the table to kiss Guido and said to him, "Take me away."
So Guido rode a discriminatory green horse, drove straight into the lobby, and hugged the "princess" in full view of everyone.
From this scene, the film gradually enters the rhythm of conflict and tension from the soothing and brisk narrative rhythm.
4
In a flash, a few years passed. They had a son named Joshua.
At this time, the situation in Italy was already very tense. Jews were attacked and arrested by the Nazis, and shops were labeled "Jews and dogs are not allowed."
As Jews, the Guido family was also affected. On Joshua's birthday, Guido and his son were taken into Nazi concentration camps, and Guido's wife saw a messy house, knew what was happening, and then firmly demanded that the officers take her away.
On the way to the concentration camp, in order not to let the child Joshua fall into fear, Guido laughs and tells his son that this is just a birthday trip arranged for you.
In the camp cell, in order to let his son stay inside, Guido told him that they were playing a grand game, and the child who accumulated 1000 points could get a real tank.
This imaginative white lie is the father's love for his son.
Nazi officers talk about cell rules, which Guido translates into rules of the game; he works so hard in a hot workshop that he tells his son that he is building a tank; he tries his best to convince his child that it is just a game, and when the game is over, the child will get a real tank.
Until the last moment of his life, Guido still took a comical step, blinking at his son. He knew that his son, who was hiding in the iron box, was watching him at the moment, and he wanted to leave him with that side full of optimism and warmth forever.
After a burst of gunfire, Guido never returned.
Nor does the film end at this point. Because Bernini doesn't want everyone to end it all in "hate", because an optimist always has to give some hope to people who are trapped in life.
Director Bernini believes that "laughter" and "imagination" are the best medicine for facing the helplessness of life.
5
At the end of the film, Allied tanks drive into the concentration camp, and Joshua, who comes out of the iron box, receives a prize from his father.
Guido used lies and life to protect the innocent hearts of the children, the haze and blood of the concentration camps, and did not "kill" the children.
Someone online says it's a movie that every man should go to once, and then you know how to be a good father.
Everyone's life, it is inevitable to encounter unexpected storms, when life is frustrated, you may wish to think about Guido, no matter what the situation, always face it with a smile.
The reason why Bernini finally shows the picture of the Allied victory, I think, is probably that he does not want the audience to indulge in shallow emotions, he wants to make his son believe through Guido, and at the same time convince himself and everyone that nightmares are temporary. The victorious tank is already on the way, and as long as you believe, it will drive over sooner or later.
"Beautiful Life", it is very cruel, but there is no trace of blood, there is no tear, this is about life, you have to discover that beauty yourself.
Postscript: After its release, "A Beautiful Life" eventually won 70 international awards and 51 nominations. Among them, including 3 Oscar awards, Cannes Grand Jury Prize, screenwriter, director and starring Roberto Bernini, also became the first foreign actor in the history of the Oscars to win the film emperor with foreign language films. It is reported that on January 3, 2020, the 4k restored version of "Beautiful Life" will be released in China. The first big drama at the beginning of 2020 must go to the theater to brush it again.