When I was teaching a film appreciation class to high school students, I was always on the lookout for quality films from various genres that I felt would "work" with them. While I love many foreign films, my students would turn up their nose when they heard that they'd have to read subtitles. So it became my mission to change their attitudes and instant negative reaction against foreign films. I was able to use The 400 Blows since it related to their school lives and was able to use The Virgin Spring with a lot of work on my part.
If only Roberto Benigni had created Life is Beautiful 10 years earlier, my students would be storming the video stores in search of more foreign films. It has now even surpassed Il Postinino's numbers in the United States for viewership. Like many foreign films, it is a simple story that has profound effects.
The first time I heard about Benigni's film, I was skeptical. How could anyone create a comedy from a concentration camp? But I began to hear some positive buzz about the film after it opened locally, so I went the following week to a matinee. Normally foreign films don't get a lot of play here in Arizona, and when they do play at the one theater that screens them, you generally have a lot of space.
Not so this time. I had to really scout around to find a seat that was near the middle of the theater. Word of mouth had spread.
I wasn't disappointed.
Plot
The story splits into two distinct parts. The first part is pure comedy though there are a few hints at the dark side of Fascist racism. But even this is done with a touch of comedy-a Fascist teacher is outraged at a math problem about eliminating undesirable people, but is only upset because of the complicated calculations required. In another scene Guido (Benigni) demonstrates for Italian schoolchildren the superior Aryan ear lobe and bellybutton.
The film opens with Jewish waiter Guido Orefice relentlessly pursuing Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) along with pursuing his dream of owning a bookshop in 1930's Italy. Guido pulls off some clever maneuvers and uses his outrageous sense of humor to woo his true love away from the Fascist town official that she is to marry.
Guido charms Dora, and they ride off together a la The Graduate during the engagement dinner. After a transition we find that they have a son named Joshua, who loves tanks and hates baths (details that play a significant role in the story). This is where the film takes an abrupt right turn.
Guido and his son are taken to a concentration camp while Dora demonstrates her love and loyalty by volunteering to go with them. Benigni now treads on unknown territory by tackling the Holocaust with a completely different twist. With this horrendous backdrop of history, Benigni continues to entertain us as he protects his son from reality by convincing him that they are taking a trip and are playing games with the Germans.
The scene that cracks me up every time is the one in which Guido translates the German guard's instructions into Italian to preserve his son's belief. Benigni's timing is perfect. The German bellows out the rules, and Guido copies his cadence: "We play the part of the mean guys who yell ... And don't ask for snacks or lollipops ... we ate them all!"
The mixture of comedy with Holocaust scenes continues throughout the second half, and we only find out near the end if the movie will end happily. All I can say is that I alternately laughed and wiped the "sweat" from my eyes through some of these scenes. It's remarkable that Benigni pulls this combo off. Life is Beautiful is a tribute to the human spirit itself, as it clearly demonstrates that we can overcome any tests and difficulties.
Film Elements
Life is Beautiful really is Benigni's film. Not only is he the main actor appearing on screen 90% of the time, but he also directed it and wrote the screenplay. From his standing on the chair behavior at the Oscars last year, he may not be acting all that differently on screen than he is off screen; so this is a perfect vehicle for his talents.
There are a great many touching moments in the film. The romantic Italian themed music plays a vital emotional part as do very effective performances by the supporting characters, but that is not what stands out.
Most people focus on the story line; indeed, this is the part that many are uncomfortable with, as they don't feel it's appropriate to have the Holocaust portrayed in a comedy. Benigni does well with his screenplay, as it's not an easy tale to tell. He manipulates the plot to contain many coincidental elements -- most notably a series of vignettes that makes Dora believe that Guido is magical and another elaborate one that involves a tank- yet the plot remains very simple.
The camera work and editing are competent, but I can't say that they stand out. Of course, many editors would call that high praise. Often they want the editing to appear seamless and unnoticeable. The one "film school" moment in editing comes with the transition scene when Dora and Guido walk into the greenhouse ... pause ... and out comes their son Joshua five years later.
It's not the cinematography, or editing, or even the writing that makes this film so enduring. It's Roberto Benigni in all his zaniness. He doesn't have the looks of a leading man, yet somehow he grabs Dora's attention as well as ours and makes us all love him. I was trying to figure out who he reminded me of, when suddenly I was struck during a goofy sequence where he keeps exchanging his hat with a businessman. The hat ... of course! Benigni is very much operating in the spirit of Charlie Chaplin here.
Like Chaplin, Benigni dominates every scene with his comic timing, and he even does some slapstick when he trips over the chair. His facial expressions also communicate openly and Benigni turns virtually every situation into a humorous one. Just as Chaplin used to show his disdain for authority figures, so too does Benigni as he slides around the Fascist official and the German authorities in the camp. Need I remind you that both of them also directed and wrote their own material.
Conclusion
I realize that it would be critically fashionable to dismiss Benigni's film and point out its flaws, and describe how inappropriate his subject matter is, how improbable the incidents are, and how he manipulates the audience, but I'm not going to do that. I enjoyed the film too much to discredit its charms.
I saw Life is Beautiful for the fifth time last night after my own personal copy arrived in the mail. I had to wait until I could get an affordable subtitled version. I'm a film purist -- black and white movies should remain black and white, letterbox editions are superior to cropped versions, and Italian movies should be spoken in Italian!
Now I can re-watch it whenever I want to laugh and cry along with Benigni's character. I know that I'll see it many more times over the next several years, meaning the more I watch it, the less expensive the video becomes.
I highly recommend that you check this film out, especially if you think that you wouldn't want to read subtitles. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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