PSY 317 "La Vita è Bella" (Life Is Beautiful)

Beautiful Life of Guido before the Tragedy

A story of how a father "happily" surviving his way through the Nazi camp with his son, Joshua and separated wife, Dora. I like how he, Guido Orefice, cleverly played with his environment and controlled it. It was heart-warming seeing how he made up happy stuffs for his son and sometimes his wife before and during the Nazi camp as not many fathers, husbands or in general guys would do so. As everyone did, I've been through some tough situations but managed to smile sincerely to everything no matter what.

My most favorite part of this movie was the part where he manipulated and used his surroundings and previous causes to create a continuous event to woo Dora. It started with needing a key to open Dora's heart which Guido linked it to Mother Mary where he was calling out for the Mary upstairs, who had been seen to always throw the key down when called. Then, to the ice-cream shop, Guido noticed Dr. Lessing walking to him and asked Mother Mary how fast can he and Dora have an ice cream, where the doctor answered '7 seconds' in accordance to Guido's previous snow white riddle. Then, coincidently his hat got wet and Dora still in doubt asked Mother Mary to exchange a dry hat for Guido, which he got back his own hat from his friend's boss, I assumed that it was no coincidence and he cycled to find Guido. 

I like these kinds of cycle thing and how a simple thing could help others as well as how one's deeds would come back to self. This cycle actually originated from a Japanese Buddhist story called the Straw Millionaire (googled and Wikipedia-ed it). Previously, I remember this protocol was adapted in the life-jacket altruism video and the anime Hyouka.

Sorry, a little off topic.... Let's march back to business..................

Psychological Resilience

The term above refers to the adaptation to stress and hardships in a positive way. {research proposed too many definitions from different theorist so just straight to the point and wiki.. :P}
Many mentioned that it is not a rare phenomenon (?), but a common "thing" that all of us can learn and apply. It's not a trait, only a process of an individual adjusting to an adverse situation.

Obviously, the whole movie showed how Guido perceive, what we label bad events, as bad also but he could turn it around and see it as a new, fun adventure. Like when Dora fell on him, Guido describes as an Angel falling for him. But, a grumpy or negative guy would scold her or keep the grudge and thoughts internal or maybe just complain it was not his lucky day. Another example was how Guido take it as a nice decoration on Robin Hood, his uncle's horse, when painted in green with the words Jewish Horse.

We could also see that Guido is confident in himself and others. Thus, he have the confidence, courage, and self-efficacy to do what he say. It was funny how he posed himself as the German translator and entrusting other guys to helping Joshua believe he is in the game.

From the APA website, they mentioned several factors in resilience
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx#

• The capacity to make realistic plans and take steps to carry them out. [which was done when Guido planned to make Joshua be included with the German kids and have something to eat plus the scene at the end when trying to escape and find Dora]
• A positive view of yourself and confidence in your strengths and abilities. 
• Skills in communication and problem solving.   [problem solving skills can be proved from how quickly he solved riddles and deals with days in Nazi camp with Joshua]
• The capacity to manage strong feelings and impulses.
• Having caring and supportive relationships within and outside the family
• Provide role models and offer encouragement and reassurance [the way Guido "convince" his son and speaking to Dora through the loudspeaker to ensure they are safe]

Similar to being resilience

           I admire the character Guido on how he could change things around him to be positive and how smart he is in companion with changing the perception of things to be good (mostly for his son). Like how from the children's hide and seek he let Joshua into the group and how he predicted his own misfortune when asking Joshua not to come out until everyone is gone. Guido Orefice is a happy, positive person in general. Of course, how positive/resilience he is, Guido is still human who can feel many emotions. Like when he was carrying the anvil he complains why they have to do it, when they were moving to the Nazi camp, he felt disappointed + sad after knowing Dr. Lessing won't actually help him escape, and when he was desperately finding for Dora. Although so, he still showed a happy appearance to his family and marched happily to his death to not make his son worry.


       Though everyone could be resilient, I believe sometimes bodily chemicals and genes + environment would make it hard for some individuals. However, it is not too late to try and change. Anyway too much stress and adverse feelings/thoughts are not good for the body & mind.