In the film Life is Beautiful directed by Roberto Benigni several moods are created throughout the film. Romance, tension and humour were created through aspects such as dialog, camera techniques and colour that were used in the film. In this essay I will analyse how these moods were created using different techniques.
The first mood that I chose was romance which related to the theme of love. This mood was created through the Offenbach soundtrack in the film. An example of this was when Guido went to the same opera as Dora but he was staring at her throughout the whole opera, but this was prior to Guido and Dora sharing the evening together. Later in the film whilst in the concentration camp, Guido plays the same record on a gramophone reminding them of happier times that they had together. This specific soundtrack is special to Guido and Dora because the first time they spent time together was after the opera; the night they fell in love. Another example is the colour red which also relates to the theme of love. This colour is used as a motif appearing in the opera, the carpet scene and the pile of clothes in the concentration camp. This is used when either Guido or Dora is present as a symbol of their love/ romance they share.
Another mood that was created in the film was tension and this relates to the theme of conflict. An aspect that created this mood was soundtrack. The soundtrack is displayed in a number of different scenes. For example when Guido and Ferruccio appear at Eliseo’s house and walked in on the “barbarians”. Another example is when Dora went to pick up her mother for Joshua’s birthday. This is when Dora saw that Guido, Eliseo and Joshua had been taken away by the German soldiers. The soundtrack plays throughout these scenes implying that something serious has occurred in the film. This gives the viewer the impression that the mood is tense because an important/serious event has taken place.
The last mood created in the film was humour....