Life is beautiful (Aka) La Vita i Bella

Plot

Life is beautiful is the story of Jewish Italian,Guido who protects his family during the misery. In the opening of the movie,the clownish Guido arrives in the town of Arezzo,dreaming about to open his own bookshop. Later,he finds temporary work as a waiter in his uncle's hotel. On the way to Arezzo,their car broke down then they tried to fix it out. Thereby,he met with Dora unexpectedly and their love story begins. Dora is a school teacher who comes from a wealthy non- Jewish family. Her parents wants her to engage to the upper-class civil servant. However,Dora falls for Guido and as they had common feelings for each other,Dora was taken away by Guido at her engagement ceremony. Thereafter,the two lovers marry and have an adorable child named Giosué. While watching these scenes,you almost forget the film's plot concerns the holocaust. That's a brilliant story line though. They spend their lives happily for several years. When Giosué reached to the age of four,Guido and Giosué were deported to a German-run concentration camp,followed by Dora despite being a non-Jew. Guido tries to shield his son from the world around him by telling him that it is all part of a game where points are awarded for good behaviour and first prize is a tank. Hence,although he is surrounded by sickness and death, Giosué did not frighten at all because of his father's assuring presentation and his own innocence. Men and women are separated in the concentration camp. So,Guido was trying to find out his wife,Dora. While he was finding his wife, he tells his son to hide in a sweatbox until everybody left. Thereafter,he was caught the Nazi guard and he tried to figure out how to make his son laugh one last time by imitating that two of them are stepping towards the camp together. Giosué survives and thinks that he has won the game when an American tank arrives at the camp. At the end, he also found his mother as well but they didn't know about Guido's upset death.

Characters

Guido Orefice – is a hilarious,sweet and goofy man who always tell the stories. The scene in which Guido stole Dora with green horse at her engagement ceremony obviously shows how Guido is humorous. He has a variety of works but his dream is to own a bookshop. He is a carefree and great father. He protects his little son, Giosué in every part of this film. After his marriage,Guido and Dora lead a happy life with their son, Giosué. When he was sent to a concentration camp with Dora and Giosué,he tries to encourage them with his antics and he eventually sacrifices his life to save his son.

Dora Orefice – Guido's wife who works as a teacher. She leaves her engagement ceremony for Guido because she wanted to find him wherever he goes. When Guido and Giosué are taken to a concentration camp,she insists on going,too,even though she is not Jewish. But she can't meet with her husband and son because men and women have been separated. At the end of the film,she is eventually reunited with her son.

Giosue Orefice – Guido and Dora's son. After Guido and Giosue are taken to the concentration camp,he believes that they are both participants in a giant game and the winner will receive a real tank. As being a four-year-old child,Giosue believe all his father had told him. He is doubtful with his father's fantastic ideas,but he finally take great joy in the magical world that his father creates for him. Several years later,he realized what his father had done for his mother and himself. It was shown in the last part of the movie. He was grateful for shielding the nightmares of these days.

Themes

The themes of this movie is mainly the power of love. Guido's love keeps Giosue alive through the harsh truths of concentration camp. As Guido makes everything into a huge game,so that the little boy will remain hidden throughout the misery time. Giosue only interested in the big game to win that his father created. Not only does Guido show great love but also does Dora. Since she is not Jewish,she demands to go with Guido and Giosue to the concentration camp. In addition,all three main characters were strong enough to face with difficulties. Guido's main target is to reunion his family.

Critique

This movie is a great movie that you should watch it. It'll tell you life truly is beautiful. “Life is beautiful” is a film of two distinct halves.To be honest, I don't know whether this is a comedy or upset story. The film intends the powers of imagination,innocence,and love in the most harrowing of circumstances. At the beginning of the film,it was like a movie with happy ending but it actually not. The background of this movie mainly points to the focus of the war. The last scene of this movie really touches to me that Giosue met back with his mother. In the end,Giosue realized how his father sacrificed for his family. Overall,this film is well-worth seeing film and I do enjoy this film very much. 

"Needs" versus "Wants"

                         What is the difference between needs and wants? Different people from different parts of the world have different opinions of 'needs and wants'. One of main differences between needs and wants is that needs refers to a general desire,while wants refers to a specific desire. Need is something that is essential and very important. Everyone has needs but the views on needs are quite different according to their conditions. For instance,the needs of people from poverty is totally different from that of rich people in terms of basic needs which are food,water and the place they live in. The word 'wants' is slightly different from 'needs'. The dictionary states this as a desire or you posses to do. As stated by the Maslow's hierarchy of needs,'needs' can be distinguish into five categories such as physiological,safety,belongingness,esteem and self-actualization. 

                          Physiological needs may also known as basic needs which include food,water,sleep,excretion,breathing and so on. We need them to be survive in life. Imagine not having any food,we will be suffer from starvation. Likewise,we cannot live without 'water'. Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. (W. H. Auden, First Things First) This shows that we cannot alive without water although we can live without love. Therefore,those all physiological needs are the most necessary things for our bodies and life.

                         The second type of needs,safety needs can refer to both psychological and physical needs. The basic need for this level is the security which concerns with body,employment,resources,morality,family,health and property. This sort of need basically means that people are not only satisfy with their incomes but also with their psychological senses of security. Health is one of the important part in safety needs. Having a poor health leads to physical disadvantage to normal procedure and strain. 

                         Love and belonging,natural desire that everyone needs it. As we are human beings,we do want to feel belonged,appreciated and loved for a once in life. This can be happen in all age groups. As an example,young children want the attention from their parents. When they reach to teenagers,they try to find out the attention of the opposite gender. During the age of majority,they want love and kind from their beloved grandchildren and younger ones. There is no one who don't need belongingness.

                        Another kind of needs is the esteem needs which can be define as the needs of respect and admiration in the form of profession or academic achievement,or wealth or confidence in proficiency. Most people want respect from their colleagues to gain their happiness. Without esteem,they may be pale with the exhaustion.

                        Many psychologists are convinced that self-actualization needs is the desire to achieve one's full potential. Maslow's hierarchy of needs states this needs as the final level. Many people want to fulfill their dreams. Thus,they need cognitive needs of problem solving and creativity,philosophical needs such as acceptance,motivation,being an ideal parent,leaving a meaningful legacy and many others.

                       All in All,these six needs are the most important essential needs in our life. We cannot be live throughout the life without them. As mentioned above,the differentiate between needs and wants is noticeable. Everyone have different needs and different ideas of needs. Hence,we can be classify that needs is the vital  and wants is  the aspiration.

Definition of Success

                            There are many definitions of success in this world. The dictionary states that success is the achievement of one's aim or goal. Some people think that success is the how much happiness they get from their friends and the things they buy. On the other hand,some believe that success is getting the job they want,the family they want and the life they want. Being success can gives us moral knowledge,happiness and even motivation for our life. Jeffrey Archer,British politician and writer,described the word “success” as “The secret of success is never believing you are successful” from his interview with Martyn Lewis in Lewis' book, Reflections on Success (1997). From my part of view,I strongly agree that people can achieve success if they focus on their work,following their passion, gaining of fame and fortune, healthy and spend as much time as they can with their family.

                            By focusing on your work and following your passion is one of the best way to succeed. Although doing what you love will not guarantee for financial success,you'll not face with a life of boredom or unhappiness at work. Success basically means being happy with what you are doing in life. One of the American businessman,Tony Hawk,said that “My definition of success is doing what you love. I feel many people do things because they feel they have to, and are hesitant to risk following their passion.” That means if you are doing something with passion,you cannot lose your concentration easily. Another goal to be succeed is focusing on your work. To get a successful life,you have to struggle out and earn upon your work. For instance,if you do with your own desire,the word “successful” cannot be run away from your side either.

                           Success encompasses all kinds of prosperity. Fame and fortune is just one form. The reason why most people view fame and fortune as the prototype of success is because these two things usually come to people who have worked long and hard. For the most part, in order to be and feel successful, one needs to have worked at it. Success is something that usually takes a lot of effort to get, but is worth it in the end.

                          Another factor is to be a healthy person. Health plays an important role in the path to success. As an example,if you are rich and you owns a lot of luxurious properties but lack of health,then you'll be damn in life. You may need both physically and mentally to be succeed. Hence,you can be able to achieve goals and maintain them.

                          Many rich people who are known as successful people,usually comes from the absence of a happy family because they don't have enough time to spend with their family. Financial success is a way to failure in building happy family. Some people work very hard in order to achieve goals,for example,they work overtime at work. So that they cannot spend as much time as with their family members. In our country,many people are working in oversea to support their families. They left their families to earn money. They don't need to worry for their financial problems but they don't get enough happiness. Hence,they still can't be considered as successful without seeing their family living happily.

                         In a nut shell,the five main factors that I mentioned above are the best ways to get successful life. Getting successful life also known as getting a lot of happiness. But do you have those five important  majors of success? That's not an easy way to cover all these five factors. You may need long time to get a successful life. To taste the meaning of success,people should have these five important majors of success.