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Holocaust remembrance thread
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| starsearcher |
Today marks the 60th anniversarry of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Forces during World War II. Let us remember all the dead (over a million people were murdered in Auschwitz alone) and hope that no such thing will ever happen again.
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| RobbyG. |
Amen + 1
Unfortunatly this sort of thing STILL goes on to this day :sadgreen: which is why I have little hope for mankind to move forward beyond this era of intolorence. |
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| techno_freak |
| quote: | Originally posted by starsearcher
concentration camp by the Soviet Forces during World War II
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it supposed to be, concentration camp by the German (nazis), not Soviets.
+1 |
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| amb_ |
| quote: | Originally posted by techno_freak
it supposed to be, concentration camp by the German (nazis), not Soviets.
+1 |
Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviets on January 27, 1945.
It's in my hopes and prayers that we can keep such evil at bay, and when the circumstances demand it, act swiftly and without reservation to extinguish evil. |
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| dallastar |
| quote: | Originally posted by starsearcher
Today marks the 60th anniversarry of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Forces during World War II. Let us remember all the dead (over a million people were murdered in Auschwitz alone) and hope that no such thing will ever happen again.
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I will say a little prayer -
on side note**I work at a retirement home with over 90% jewish population, and i have heard a lot abotu it today and yesterday - We Flow with information about all the negative that happened in the past - and I truly feel saddened about it all!
I pray as well that nothing like this EVER happens again!
You know what movie is good to watch about this.. It's a Beautiful life...
SOURCE
Life Is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella)
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
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Italy, 1997
U.S. Release Date: 10/98 (limited)
Running Length: 1:54
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Mature themes, off-screen violence)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bini Bustric, Marisa Paredes, Horst Buchholz, Giorgio Cantarini
Director: Roberto Benigni
Producers: Gianluigi Braschi, Elda Ferri
Screenplay: Roberto Benigni, Vincenzo Cerami
Cinematography: Tonino Delli Colli
Music: Nicola Piovani
U.S. Distributor: Miramax Films
In Italian with subtitles
| quote: | THE ARTS/CINEMA FEBRUARY 23, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 8
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It's a Beautiful Life
Italian comic Roberto Benigni makes love and laughter come alive in a Nazi concentration camp
By GREG BURKE /ROME
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Nazi death camp provides an odd backdrop for a comedy, but Roberto Benigni makes his living playing oddballs. And the first half of La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful) shows the goofy Italian comedian in his element as he woos and wows a woman he calls la Principessa (the Princess). Benigni, best known for his box office hit Johnny Stecchino and his role in Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law, directed the film and stars as Guido, a bookseller living in the Tuscan town of Arezzo during the German occupation. The princess is Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), an elementary school teacher who in addition to being the prettiest girl around also happens to be engaged to one of the local Italian Fascist officials.
Through a series of hilarious mishaps, Guido carries off la Principessa from a formal engagement party on his uncle's white stallion. But then the film takes an unsettling turn. Guido's uncle becomes the target of crude anti-Semitic graffiti, which the fun-loving younger man writes off as a joke. Of course, it isn't a joke, and soon Guido's bookshop is tagged a "Jewish store."
About 8,000 Italian Jews were deported and died during World War II. In making a comedy about such a horrific event, Benigni left himself open to charges of insensitivity. But he asked Jewish groups to advise him on the screenplay, and the film has been well received among Italian Jews. "It's not Schindler's List and doesn't pretend to be," says Franco Pavoncello, Commissioner for Culture for the Jewish community in Rome. "It's a fable about human values, and how a concentration camp can destroy those values." The film may be full of laughs, but it makes no attempt to hide the horrors of the Holocaust.
Guido and Dora have a baby boy, Joshua, and when he's about five he asks his father why Jews and dogs aren't allowed into the pastry shop. Dad explains that people can make whatever rules they want, and that one hardware store in town doesn't let in Spaniards or horses. The game of averting tragedy with laughter has begun. Joshua asks why they let everyone in their bookstore, and Guido promises to be more discriminating: "Tomorrow, we're going to write: 'No Spiders and No Visigoths Allowed'."
The stakes rise when Guido and his son are sent to a death camp. He convinces the boy that it's all a great game, and that the winner gets to take home a real tank. Guido explains that the bad guys didn't want to let him play, but he insisted and finally got registered. He shows the numbers on his arm as proof.
Benigni is at his best when he pretends to know German and translates the corporal's orders for his son. While the Nazi barks out death threats, Guido turns them into rules for the game. "There are three cases in which you lose all your points," he says. "One: Those who cry. Two: Those who want to see their mamma. Three: Those who are hungry and want some snack. Forget about it!" It may be a cheap trick, using the kid's innocence for a few laughs amid the slaughter, but it works. Joshua plays the game well, and in the end the tank arrives, driven by an American. Life really is beautiful--at least for those fortunate enough to survive.
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