The Italian comedian R. Benigni has succeeded in astonishing and touching deeply the world of the cinema with La vita è bella, a sensitive film, in style something like Fellini. The film evokes the Holocaust without being too heavy and without elaboration; it simply relates the story - or perhaps the fable - of Guido, Dora and Giosué. Can we say that life is good for a family suddenly thrown into the horror of a concentration camp? The film's director can answer in the affirmative because his work has the status of an act of faith, and because it is presented as a parable. This essay underlines the surprising connection between the film and the world of Christian values, and brings out some clear analogies with the economy of salvation. With this in the background, the mystery of the Father becomes clear, as does man's vocation to be «son»; and one understands that confident surrender in faith which allows man to be part of the redemptive sacrifice of Christ.
