Guido Orefice (Life is Beautiful)

"You can lose all your points for any one of three things. One: If you cry. Two: If you ask to see your mother. Three: If you're hungry and ask for a snack! Forget it!" (Life is Beautiful)

Guido Orefice, played by Roberto Benigni, is the carefree and somewhat silly protagonist of Life is Beautiful (1997). The first half of this film focuses on Guido's attempt to woo his love interest, Dora, played by Benigni's wife, Nicoletta Braschi. The film then takes a drastic turn after a time skip, and focuses on Guido's efforts to take care of his son while the his family is split up and interned at a Nazi concentration camp.

Many people were offended by Life is Beautiful, saying that Guido's goofy, lighthearted character had no place in a film that centres around the great human tragedy of the Holocaust. However, in this film, the internment camps are simply used as a vehicle to provide context for a larger and more powerful story. Life is Beautiful is about how much a father can love his son, and the lengths he would go to protect him. Guido tells his young son that the concentration camp is a game in which every prisoner is a player competing for the grand prize of a tank. He gives him rules, encourages him to stay when the child wants to leave, and does everything in his power to make enjoyable one of the worst things that can happen to a human. Guido embodies that idea that every parent has both the ability and responsibility to make their child's life as fun and carefree as possible, no matter what the situation.