therefore easy to dismiss the events as well. Yet, after careful consideration and selection, a
fictional feature film becomes a way to encapsulate a number of different themes and stories
about a given event or subject; again, it serves as a way for the instructor to personalize the issues
and events, while at the same time frees the students from seemingly mundane minutia. The
author offers a word of warning at this point: It is imperative that an instructor make students
aware that they are viewing a work of fiction designed to make certain points. Failure to do so
leads to the possibility that students might think the instructor is intentionally misleading them.
There are two foreign films that, ironically, use a rather humorous approach to examine
the serious subject of genocide. The Italian film Life is Beautiful (La Vita è bella – 1997) employs
the comedic talents of Roberto Benigni, who also wrote and directed the film, to highlight the
plight that many Jews faced in Europe. Benigni’s character uses humor and cunning to protect his
son in the face of great sorrow and misery; the danger with this film, of course, is that students
will focus on the film’s comedic interludes rather than the serious subject at hand. However, the
end of the film, although somewhat sentimental, hits home as Benigni sacrifices himself to save
his son. Film critics have referred to the film as “heart warming.” Yet, others have accused
Benigni of creating a film that cheapens the events of the Holocaust as a way to ensure a laugh.
These criticisms aside, the films proves to be immensely popular with both the public and
students.
Another film that uses humor in an effort to make its point is the Czech film Divided We
Fall (Musíme si pomáhat – 2000). The original Czech title, which literally translates as, “We
must help one another,” probably more accurately captures the theme of the film. The story takes
place in occupied Czechoslovakia, where a husband and wife hide the son of the husband’s
former Jewish employer. The story is really the interaction among the couple’s neighbors. Their
village become a microcosm for Czechoslovakia: their neighbor include clandestine socialist
partisans (who is somewhat inactive during the occupation), a collaborator who provides the
couple with extra and rationed food, and the young Jewish man who relies on the kindness of the
couple for his survival. Although comedic at times, the final parable of the film is that despite
their shortcomings and missteps, in the end, everyone is dependent on others for survival. The
film becomes an excellent way to begin the story about how individuals can get caught in politics
that spin out of control; how do people acquiesce, or even participate in genocide? Divide We
Fall gives us some insight into how people find themselves in such situations.
The final category of films is propaganda films. This author has mixed emotions about
employing such films. On one hand, these films can be very effective in demonstrating the
dehumanization process that is essential to genocidal events (see Stanton 1998). However, a film
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Convention