The main three parallels between Night and Life Is Beautiful are how they both start with before the holocaust effected their lives, and ended with Liberation, how the father dies right before liberation, and how the main focus is the father-son bonding. A huge contrast however are the tones of the two.
While Night has a sort of hopeless, fighting to survive, melancholy feel to it, Life Is Beautiful is rather upbeat and humorous. This difference is caused by the age of the sons in the story. Elie from Night is 15, so he notices everything that is happening and will not ignore all of the terrible things that are going on. He is also working age because the camp thinks he is 18, so he is also suffering from hard labor.
Joshua from Life Is Beautiful however is only five years old, and ran away from the showers where he would have otherwise have been killed with all of the other children. He's in hiding and has been told by his father that this is a whole big game. He can't be outside of the barracks so he doesn't see much. What his father tells him about what is going on is a complete lie because his father wants him to stay innocent despite everything that is going on. He never doubts his father because when he hears things from the adults his father tells him that they're just trying to make him get out of the game so they'll get first prize instead of him. He also tells Joshua that all of the other children are hiding as part of the game aswell. Throughout the entire time they are at the Concentration Camp Guido's entire mission is to shield Joshua from the horrors that are truly going on. Him keeping Joshua safe from all of this is the reason why the movie is so light-hearted in places despite the facts. Because of the ten-year difference in the sons, the fathers survive with them by using different methods. These different methods and what the sons are experiencing are causing the drastic difference in tone.
Life is actually quite beautiful throughout the entire film despite what everything the characters are going through. The most obvious example of life being beautiful would be at the beginning when Guido is trying to win Dora's heart. The atmosphere is light, the music is cheerful, the colors are warm and bright; things are going well. During their time in the camp though all three of them are pretty well off. Sure, Dora is separated, but Guido finds ways to reach out to her so she knows that he and Joshua are okay. He finds the intercom and speaks to her through it, saying that they are fine. Then he has the oportunity to play a record on a gramaphone, and finds a song from a musical they were both at. He plays it out the window to her. Even though Guido himself did not survive, the moment where Joshua is reunited with Dora is the moment at the end where life is very beautiful.
While Night has a sort of hopeless, fighting to survive, melancholy feel to it, Life Is Beautiful is rather upbeat and humorous. This difference is caused by the age of the sons in the story. Elie from Night is 15, so he notices everything that is happening and will not ignore all of the terrible things that are going on. He is also working age because the camp thinks he is 18, so he is also suffering from hard labor.
Joshua from Life Is Beautiful however is only five years old, and ran away from the showers where he would have otherwise have been killed with all of the other children. He's in hiding and has been told by his father that this is a whole big game. He can't be outside of the barracks so he doesn't see much. What his father tells him about what is going on is a complete lie because his father wants him to stay innocent despite everything that is going on. He never doubts his father because when he hears things from the adults his father tells him that they're just trying to make him get out of the game so they'll get first prize instead of him. He also tells Joshua that all of the other children are hiding as part of the game aswell. Throughout the entire time they are at the Concentration Camp Guido's entire mission is to shield Joshua from the horrors that are truly going on. Him keeping Joshua safe from all of this is the reason why the movie is so light-hearted in places despite the facts. Because of the ten-year difference in the sons, the fathers survive with them by using different methods. These different methods and what the sons are experiencing are causing the drastic difference in tone.
Life is actually quite beautiful throughout the entire film despite what everything the characters are going through. The most obvious example of life being beautiful would be at the beginning when Guido is trying to win Dora's heart. The atmosphere is light, the music is cheerful, the colors are warm and bright; things are going well. During their time in the camp though all three of them are pretty well off. Sure, Dora is separated, but Guido finds ways to reach out to her so she knows that he and Joshua are okay. He finds the intercom and speaks to her through it, saying that they are fine. Then he has the oportunity to play a record on a gramaphone, and finds a song from a musical they were both at. He plays it out the window to her. Even though Guido himself did not survive, the moment where Joshua is reunited with Dora is the moment at the end where life is very beautiful.
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