Father Son Relationships In Night And Benigni's Film Life Is Beautiful

Not all of Hitler’s schemes succeeded. Yet surprisingly, many believe so. His intent of world domination and plans such as collecting Jewish artifacts to build a museum of an extinct Jewish race was unsuccessful. So to this day, the Jewish population is large in number. A main reason for this being the significance placed on family and culture within the Jewish community. Even more so, the role of a father figure is of great importance. In relation to this, father-son relationships play an influential role in both Wiesel’s Night, and Benigni’s film “Life is Beautiful” in that they portray how strong these bonds motivate and stimulate ones fight for survival against the cruel existence of the Holocaust. Even so, the father in Benigni’s film contrasts with Wiesel’s memoir in choice of attitude, father-son relationship, and actions taken. The

In Night, Elie does not have a close connection or relation with his father. From his description of his father being “cultured, rather unsentimental…. more concerned with others than his family”, an image is created in the eyes of the reader of Elie’s feelings toward his father (Wiesel 2). Even though Elie and his father are dependent on each other’s presence for encouragement, there is not much of a bond seen between the two. A sense of awkwardness is seen in their relationship and when time comes where conversation is needed, Eliezar is mentioned to back away due to a loss of words (Wiesel 34). On the other hand, Guido and is son have a very close relationship, and Guido does everything in his power to care for his son as a shepherd would protect a sheep in the midst of danger. In the film, Joshua talks about his father and his experience as a “…gift to me-this was his sacrifice-“showing his gratefulness and the significance of his father’s influence on him (Benigni). The relationship each son has with his father influences their viewed