IF FATE DOESN'T MAKE YOU LAUGH

 


“The more I live, the more I think that humour is

the saving sense.”

Jacob A. Riis

Some twenty-three years now, since I watched the movie, ‘Life is Beautiful’. If you haven’t watched it yet, I strongly urge you to do. Let me spoil some of your movie-watching experience, by telling you the key plot…

I am doing it to tell you this: Life, often, may seem extremely unpredictable and tough. But, if we can learn to laugh at our Fate, yes, Life can be beautiful…

Jews in Europe just happened to be there when Hitler’s Nazi decided to wipe them (Jews) out from the land. If you and I were Jews, and happened to be there, then, we would have met with the same cruel Fate at Nazis’ hands… The family of Guido, his wife Dora and their little son Giosue just happened to be there… Dora was not a Jew. She was almost abducted by Guido from her would-be groom, because he was madly in love with her. When Nazi soldiers came to grab the family, Dora could have saved herself by revealing that she was a gentile. But, she chose to be on the train to the Concentration Camp, though separated from her husband and son. Guido, an adult, was aware of the Fate that would befall. But, little Giosue wouldn’t understand the dark drama of Life. What he would understand was what his father would tell  him to believe: That, the Camp was a very complicated game Giosue had to play… and, if his son could manage to hide from the soldiers the longest, and when he earns a thousand points, he would win the grand prize – a tank!. But, if he complained over food, mother or other things, he would lose points, and, thereby, the prize…

What a dark comedy! What a lie!

Eventually, Fate befell, when Hitler’s soldiers killed Guido. But, he had managed to convince Giosue to hide in a box. As Fate would have it, the American Forces arrived on the scene and liberated the Camp. Little Giosue, unaware of his father’s death, believed, that he had won the prize – a tank - in a very tough game. Ecstatic, he climbed one of the tanks, from where, he was able to spot his mother in the crowd…

A happy reunion?

The Allied Forces just happened to be there!




“If Fate doesn’t make you laugh,” said Gregory D. Roberts, “you just don’t get the joke.”

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: Life Is Beautiful

Video: Manjeet Kumar/Life Is Beautiful


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