Comparing Night And Fog, Life Is Beautiful
Films serve as an effective medium for educating their audience members. For historical
events such as the Holocaust, films carry the immense potential to assure that the memory of
horrifying systematic brutality inflicted on certain populations and the memory of the horrors
these victims’ experienced live on. Films are instrumental in assimilating the remembrance of
genocides like the Holocaust into public and popular consciousness. With the pivotal influence
that these films harness, finding the balance between upholding historical accuracy and evoking
strong emotions from the audience stands at the crux of Holocaust film production. In
exploration of this balance, three films from different genres-- Night and Fog, Life is Beautiful, …show more content…
It is a fable but invented from the truth.’” Life is Beautiful portrays a more artistic
representation of the Holocaust emphasizing the signs of life within the tragedies of genocide
through the form of comedy.
During a particular scene in the movie, Guido and Joshua arrive at the men’s barracks of
the concentration camps and Guido tries to convince Joshua that all of the prisoners are actually
competing to win a real military tank as the final prize. At their cabin, one of the officers asks for
a German translator and Guido volunteers. Instead of translating the proper camp instructions to
the rest of the cabin, he provides his fake game instruction for Joshua. Through this act, Guido
risked everyone’s life because if someone in the cabin had not understood German, the whole
cabin would have lost vital information to survive in the camp. Guido lies and goes to extreme
lengths to shelter his son from the reality of the Holocaust by turning imminent survival into a
playful game. This scene forces the audience to think about childish games and the fragility of
life in the camps simultaneously, provoking the audience to think about the life of …show more content…
Film
affords a unique opportunity beyond the scope of a book in its ability to engage the audience
through both its visual and audio representations (Katz, 2003). Particularly for The Pianist, the
classical soundtrack of the film delivers a powerful accompaniment to the main storyline that
enhances viewers’ understanding of the life-giving role that music played in Wladek’s life.
The climactic scene of the movie as a Nazi soldier discovers Wladek in hiding among the
desolate ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto is all the more intensified in the cinematic design of how
the two characters are contrasted with one another. The dirty, starving, seemingly helpless Jew is
Portrayals of the Holocaust in Films 8
at the mercy of the clean-cut, properly uniformed German soldier. The director dramatizes this
scene through the characters’ drastic appearances as well as in the amount of time focused on
Wladek’s performance for the Nazi in an attempt to save his own life. Through these cinematic
details, the director posits a message of moral redemption as demonstrated through the Nazi’s
decision to look after Wladek rather than kill him (Geras,
events such as the Holocaust, films carry the immense potential to assure that the memory of
horrifying systematic brutality inflicted on certain populations and the memory of the horrors
these victims’ experienced live on. Films are instrumental in assimilating the remembrance of
genocides like the Holocaust into public and popular consciousness. With the pivotal influence
that these films harness, finding the balance between upholding historical accuracy and evoking
strong emotions from the audience stands at the crux of Holocaust film production. In
exploration of this balance, three films from different genres-- Night and Fog, Life is Beautiful, …show more content…
It is a fable but invented from the truth.’” Life is Beautiful portrays a more artistic
representation of the Holocaust emphasizing the signs of life within the tragedies of genocide
through the form of comedy.
During a particular scene in the movie, Guido and Joshua arrive at the men’s barracks of
the concentration camps and Guido tries to convince Joshua that all of the prisoners are actually
competing to win a real military tank as the final prize. At their cabin, one of the officers asks for
a German translator and Guido volunteers. Instead of translating the proper camp instructions to
the rest of the cabin, he provides his fake game instruction for Joshua. Through this act, Guido
risked everyone’s life because if someone in the cabin had not understood German, the whole
cabin would have lost vital information to survive in the camp. Guido lies and goes to extreme
lengths to shelter his son from the reality of the Holocaust by turning imminent survival into a
playful game. This scene forces the audience to think about childish games and the fragility of
life in the camps simultaneously, provoking the audience to think about the life of …show more content…
Film
affords a unique opportunity beyond the scope of a book in its ability to engage the audience
through both its visual and audio representations (Katz, 2003). Particularly for The Pianist, the
classical soundtrack of the film delivers a powerful accompaniment to the main storyline that
enhances viewers’ understanding of the life-giving role that music played in Wladek’s life.
The climactic scene of the movie as a Nazi soldier discovers Wladek in hiding among the
desolate ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto is all the more intensified in the cinematic design of how
the two characters are contrasted with one another. The dirty, starving, seemingly helpless Jew is
Portrayals of the Holocaust in Films 8
at the mercy of the clean-cut, properly uniformed German soldier. The director dramatizes this
scene through the characters’ drastic appearances as well as in the amount of time focused on
Wladek’s performance for the Nazi in an attempt to save his own life. Through these cinematic
details, the director posits a message of moral redemption as demonstrated through the Nazi’s
decision to look after Wladek rather than kill him (Geras,