Classical Music in Life is Beautiful
Sound in Cinema has more than one purpose. Coming of sound did not only transform the silent era into talkie but also changed the cinematic language (Mangold 2016). The sound covers many areas like background sound, dialogues, voice-overs, music and silence. The sound makes the audience connect with the characters and believe in the story effectively. The selected two films Life is Beautiful and Fear eats the soul might appear contradictory, but the exploring the sound in both the films might open up new connections.
The music of Life is Beautiful (1997, Directed by Roberto Bengini) is scored by the prolific music composer Nicola Piovani (Imdb.com 2017). The film has a classical feel and the uses classical scoring. One aspect of the sound design in this film is the high use of musical pieces as background score. The narrative tried to engage with the audience-emotion through certain pieces of orchestral music. For a film like Life is Beautiful, music is an inevitable part of the sound design. The title-track La Vita e Bella reflects the whole philosophy of the film. The composition uses the sound of piano, guitar and wind (Allmusic.com 1998). The later part of the composition evokes a happy feeling. This musical piece becomes symbolic as it reflects the philosophy of the film, which is life should be enjoyed even after so much hurdles and suffering.
In La note, di Fuga the composer used the sounds of percussion and violins that were missing on the previous track. Parallel the previous track starts playing in the background. This was played when Guido plans to escape. The drum rolls are often aligned with the militarism and the oppression brought by the Nazis (Penner 2014). This particular track symbolizes both the danger he is into and the shadow of death. The subtle use of title track in this track demonstrates that though there is the constant fear of death caused by the Nazis, there is hope of life.
The track Buon Giorno Principessa tells the story of Dora who connects the theme of love in the narrative (Everybodylovesitalian.com 2016). The instruments the composer used in this score are harp and clarinet that brings the euphonic sound. The avoidance of any instruments like percussion was intended to avoid any heaviness or complications. The sound is quite exciting at times because it expresses Guido’s love for Dora. Thorough the music the spectators connect to the Guido and his emotions immediately.
Sound Effects and Dialogues in Fear Eats the Soul
The film starts with a voice over that states “a simple tale” As the premise of the film is set in Italy during World War II, the classical treatment of the music justified the narrative completely. The use of dialogue is unique as silence and laughter are used quite dramatically. Eliseo tells “Silence is the most powerful cry”. Guido uses laughter as a weapon to escape and help his child to escape the horrifying reality. His use of silence is political. He remains silent most of the time when he is planning to escape the reality, but he is with his son he expresses pure joy. Viewers instantly connect with the character on the emotional level.
Guido applies various strategies to make his child save from the horror of the holocaust. He uses methods of hope and idealism. His use of Schopenhauer philosophies appeared to be ironic, and that reflects in the sound too (Ford 2016). The use of background sound that evokes happiness in the midst of horror and suffering establishes that irony. In the works human condition, he names Dora princess and calls himself a prince. They are pretty much aware of the destruction that is taking places and they might become its victim soon, but they did not fear to celebrate the moments. The fantasy Guido creates is highly supported by the musical pieces that make the whole situation bearable for the audience. The use of sound in this scenes metaphorizes Guido’s wish to escape. The horror is represented by the drum rolls and the escapism through the soothing sound of a harp. The contradiction between the space and the music brings the elements of dark comedy into the film’s language.
The sound of laughter is often used as a tool in this film to minimize the horror for the child. In the scene when Giosue come to know that the Nazis make soap and button out of human skin and teeth he tells these to his father with fear. Guido laughs it off and tells that it is a lie. Giosue then talks about the “human oven” that Guido also manages with strong laughter.
In a traditional comedy, the central theme is the celebration of society, and in a tragedy, it is traditionally focused on individuals. Life is Beautiful brings elements from both the genre and tried to make a comedy set in the holocaust. The sound design is part of the “heightened mise en scene” that makes the story so appealing and successful to its viewers (Ilagan 2013).
Importance of Sound in the Narrative
Fear eats the soul (Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder), a film that deals with subjects like racial discrimination social tension and unequal love (Imdb.com 2017). In this extremely melodramatic tale of a love story between an elderly cleaning lady and much younger Moroccan mechanic Ali. Fassbinder did not use any synchronized sound during the shooting. The sound effects and dialogues were created and recorded in the post-production. The director consciously built the expectant and slow pace of the film. He developed a rhythm for this film like his all other films. His auteruistic vision, great performance from the actors, talented cinematography and the editing, make the rhythm so perfect because the sound design compliment all of those aspects of the film. The music pieces controlled the rhythm through-out the film. The musical tone is not high that rhythmic effects and slow pace of the characters.
Society’s fear of unknown or xenophobia is played in the film successfully that is supported by cinematic elements like shots and sound (Bradshaw 2017). When Emmi enters the bar, she hears an Arabic music, which generates curiosity in her. Here the viewers realize that she is different from her friends and a unique character. Then the spectators see that Ali has been challenged to dance with her. Ali approaches her, and they start dancing while talking and in the background, the audience hears a German song, that is being played on the jukebox. An interesting situation appears out of the situation. The scene starts with Arabic music and dialogues in Arabic then the German music and the viewers see that they are dancing with enjoyment. The Arabic and German crowd judge the couple who are busy forming love.
In their first encounter, Ali explained Emmi how Arabs are treated like dogs by Germans. In this scene ironically viewers realize that Emmi treats Ali nothing but an animal. She asks her friends to check his muscles and encourages the xenophobic mentality of people. The sound of the women highlights the brutality of the animals and Ali’s silence demonstrates the hopelessness, captured in a restricted space. The film is set in the post-war Munich where the fear-eaten souls have forgotten how to love. Emmi and Ali in such situation fight in their ways against the social stigma to materialize the dream of love (Ebert 1997). The bar becomes the ideal space, almost like a sanctuary where the barmaids have no problem playing Arabian music or German music or both. It is outside the social sphere of xenophobia where the Arabs and Germans come, sit, chat and drink together without any fear and their choice of music plays a significant role in that.
Symbolic use of Music in Films
The beautiful moment between the two in the bedroom is created through the soothing background sound. Ali says that too much is going on inside his head. The viewers often find that the camera shoots the characters from a distance and the dialogues are clean but as if coming from a far place. The voice of the marginal is coming to the people slowly. This becomes apparent when the viewers find that Emmi’s crying suddenly gets closer to Ali (Geiger and Rutsky 2013). The audience again finds the same beautiful musical piece inside the hospital. The sound of crying almost appears as the theme sound of the films, which comes again and again. Once Emmi cries because she is afraid of the forbidden love and then towards the end she cries out for happiness. Her act of crying almost serves as the recurring sound that the audience connects with the character and the film. So Fear eats soul focuses more on the human sound than an electrical one to express its ideologies.
Conclusion
In-depth analysis of various aspects of sound in both films highlight that how the directors focused more on sounds than dialogues. The sound of human laughter or crying expresses the emotions more successfully in the films than the dialogues. In Life is beautiful, the classical music pieces became an integral part of the narrative and in Fear eats the soul, the symbolic use of music makes the film so significant in the history of cinema.
References
AllMusic. (1998). La Vita e Bella [Life is Beautiful] – Original Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic. [online] Available at: https://www.allmusic.com/album/la-vita-e-bella-life-is-beautiful-mw0000043867 [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
Bradshaw, P. (2017). Fear Eats the Soul review – love versus racism in Fassbinder’s exquisite tale. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/30/fear-eats-the-soul-review-love-versus-racism-in-fassbinders-exquisite-tale [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
Ebert, R. (1997). Ali: Fear Eats the Soul Movie Review (1974) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-ali-fear-eats-the-soul-1974 [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
EverybodyLovesItalian.com. (2016). “Life is Beautiful” Roberto Benigni – “Buongiorno Principessa” – EverybodyLovesItalian.com. [online] Available at: https://everybodylovesitalian.com/buongiorno-principessa/ [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
Ford, R., 2016. WHY SO SERIOUS? on philosophy and comedy.
Geiger, J. and Rutsky, R.L. eds., 2013. Film analysis: a Norton reader. WW Norton & Company.
Ilagan, Q. (2013). “Life is Beautiful” Film Analysis. [online] “Life is Beautiful” Film Analysis. Available at: https://ilaganqueriann.wordpress.com/ [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
IMDb. (2017). Life Is Beautiful (1997). [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/ [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
IMDb. (2017). Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974). [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071141/ [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
Mangold, C.J., 2016. New Waves of Sound: A Historical Analysis of Cinematic Sound, Its Development and Influence on the Art Movements of Late 20th Century Cinema.
Penner, D. (2014). Can the Nazis be Funny? Can We Laugh at the Holocaust? Examining Comedic Representations of the Nazis and their Contexts from World War II to the Present. [online] Deepblue.lib.umich.edu. Available at: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/107769/pennerd.pdf;sequence=1 [Accessed 12 Dec. 2017].
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