Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
Let me start right out by saying that I like this film a lot. On my list of all time favorite non-English language films (see my topic discussion at Non-English Language Films that pack a wallop.), I have it ranked number eighteen and since I love foreign films, that’s very high regard from me for this film. Apparently, however, a whole lot of people love this film more than I do! On the Internet Movie Database, it is the seventh most popular non-English language film (excluding spaghetti westerns and anime). At Epinions, Life is Beautiful has the second largest number of reviews (more than 200) for any non-English language film, behind only Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (at more than 350). These are the only two non-English language films with more than 100 reviews. One national reviewer wrote at the time that Life is Beautiful was initially circulating (in 1998/9) that it is a “brilliant film. Not just film of the year – it’s better than that.” A very excellent Epinion review of the film is similarly effusive: “I have to say I think it one of the best movies ever made, in any genre by anyone, ever.” So, on the one hand, I feel that I ought to be talking mainly about why I think so highly of this film but, on the other hand, I feel compelled to also explain why I don’t think as highly of it as some other folks do. I’ll let “Mr. Champion” speak for its merits and “Mr. Nay-Sayer” for the reservations.
Mr. Champion: The part of Guido in this film is the role that Roberto Benigni was born to play. And why wouldn’t it be? The story was co-written by Benigi and he directs the film as well. The part fits him to a tee. He’s just so full of exuberance and energy. This is one of those rare cases of a once-in-a-lifetime, perfect match between a star and a part. He brings such buoyancy and energy to his work. In his physical humor, he’s an heir to Chaplin.
Mr. Nay-Sayer: He’s more like the hot air to Chaplin. He lacks Chaplin’s quiet dignity and subtlety. Half the time he’s yelling his lines. He’s way over-the-top. He’s an irritating egotistical show-off and clown in the manner of Jerry Lewis. Could someone please give him a Valium! He’d probably need a double dose. He’s been called the "Robin Williams of Italian cinema” and I can’t stand Robin Williams either.
Mr. Champion: This film is like two wonderful films in one. The first half is light, comic, and romantic. Guido accidentally encounters Dora and sets out to win her over with charm and good humor even though she’s already engaged to a Black-shirt. He cleverly stages a series of “coincidences” so that she will be unable to ignore him. The second half of the film is poignant and powerful drama. Guido, his uncle, and his son Giosue, as Jews, are herded onto a train headed for a concentration camp and the devoted Dora insists on going with them. The two halves contrast but in an effective way. After all, the worst part of tragedy is remembering the good times. The romantic comedy at the beginning simply deepens the poignancy of the Holocaust segment.
Mr. Nay-Sayer: The breezy first half plays no better than crude slapstick. The narrative is all too predictable – amusing but not really involving. The first half mutes the impact of the second half. The transition is abrupt and the audience unprepared. The second half mocks the Holocaust. It’s been reported that Steven Spielberg almost walked out of a screening of the film in disgust, though his wife discouraged him from doing so because she felt it would give the wrong impression to the public. Life is Beautiful is all too reminiscent of a very distasteful Jerry Lewis film from 1972 called “The Day the Clown Cried”, in which “Helmut Doork” is assigned the job of entertaining children in a concentration camp as they are going off to the gas chamber.
Mr. Champion: It doesn’t mock the Holocaust. It shows the reality of the horror of the concentration camp and the cruelty of the Nazis. This aspect is treated with profound melancholy. The film simply doesn’t dwell on the negative. The film shows a triumph of the human spirit and a tribute to the power of love and imagination. Guido does what is necessary to protect his son, as best he can. It is a film about the love and sacrifice by which a father shields his son from the horrors of the concentration camp. Life is Beautiful drives home the unthinkable horror of genocide by demonstrating how all of Guido’s fantastic make-believe still couldn’t match the horror and incredibility of the reality. Nothing he could fabricate was as far fetched as the actuality.
Mr. Nay-Sayer: It’s a simplistic fiction that understates how fully the dehumanizing conditions of a concentration camp will undermine all human resources. It diminished the truth of the suffering of Holocaust victims by trying to put a happy face on a reality that was nothing but grim. Viewers are too busy laughing to realize that they should be crying. The humor may make this the least painful film about the Holocaust to watch, but films about the Holocaust shouldn't be designed around viewing comfort.
Mr. Champion: A film doesn’t have to decimate the viewer emotionally to deliver its point. Anyway, the acting was great. It’s rare for a character to be as fully developed in a standard length film as is Guido. He is revealed as a man of immense courage. Although he protects his young son from the truth, he never is himself deluded about the truth of what is happening. It’s no accident or misjudgment that Benigni received the Academy Award for best actor for his performance here. The chemistry between him and Dora was magnificent, as one might anticipate, since Dora was played by Benigni’s real life wife, Nicoletta Braschi. The chemistry was also excellent between Benigni and little Giorgio Cantarini as Giosue. They seemed like a real father and son.
Mr. Nay-Sayer: Well, Benigni’s chemistry was excellent with Giorgio Cantarini. I’ll concede that point. Otherwise, the film was almost entirely a show piece for Benigni, offering next to nothing by way of significant opportunity for the rest of the cast. Dora, for example, has very few lines and mainly just reinforces the clichéd idea that women should be seen but not heard and stand by their man. All of Benigni’s romancing of Dora is comical, which is no basis for a real love relationship. A relationship based on one person constantly entertaining the other is typically a relationship that never deals in genuine feelings. He even had to depend on inauthentic maneuvers just to get her attention.
Mr. Champion: That was just for the entertainment of the audience. The cinematography was outstanding thanks to Tonino Delli Colli, a veteran of many films. You really got the feel of Italy in the 1940’s. The care that designer Danilo Donati put into the sets was incredible. And the musical score by Nicola Piovani earned an Oscar in its own right. It was very moving.
Mr. Nay-Sayer: Yes, all that’s true, but great production values can’t save a film with a conceptually flawed premise.
Mr. Champion: Well, I’m going to insist on the last word. This is a unique film and the kind that viewers will remember for the rest of their lives. It’s well worth seeing and anyone who hasn’t seen it already shouldn’t miss it. It will make you both laugh and cry.
Mr. Nay-Sayer: [muttering] Too much laughing and too little crying – given the topic.
Mr. Champion: Oh do be quiet!
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You might want to check out these other excellent films from Italy:
Roberto Benigni accomplishes the impossible in his World War II comedy Life Is Beautiful: he shapes a simultaneously hilarious and haunting comedy out...More at eCOST.com
Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni) used the power of his imagination and sense of humor to win the woman he loves and create a beautiful life for his fam...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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