I am not a big foreign film fan so I never saw Life is Beautiful till it showed up on Pay-Per View. Maybe it was my aversion to subtitles, but I just believe you shouldn’t have to read a movie. However, after watching this movie I didn’t care anymore about words at the bottom of my screen. I so totally loved this movie despite the fact that I had to read and watch it (Dubbing does not suit the film). I thought the film was incredibly charming and original. Very few people would have the guts to take the subject of the Holocaust and put it under the category of comedy, but Benigni mixes the drama and the comedy well. True, the concentration camp in the film is not as gritty and depraved as we’ve seen in other Oscar winners like Schindler's List. But we’ve seen those movies, (The Diary of Anne Frank, The Devil’s Arithmetic, Shoah, One Survivor Remembers, Sophie’s Choice) we all know that the Holocaust wasn't a picnic and therefore we don't need so much actual realism in this film.
There is a very logical reason behind the humor that is infused into the story. Some of you may think that a man trying to turn the evils of Nazi genocide into a game is insulting to the memory of the Jews that were massacred. I agree that if this movie were put into the hands of some hack it would’ve turned out that way, but Benigni’s character makes lite of the situation for the most honorable of reasons: for his child.
What would you do in order for your child not to be emotionally scarred from such an experience? Parents not only protect their children from physical harm but emotional harm as well and that is what Benigni’s character, Guido, does. He wants to spare his small child the horrors of their situation. What parent wouldn’t try to do the same? Everytime there is a “funny” situation presented during their time in the concentration camp its because a very morbid or depressing event has just occurred. You can see behind Guido’s levity that there is still a weight hanging on and around him. It’s the reality of the always-looming presence of death, yet he manages to keep his strength and reminds himself that he is “lying” for the sake of his child’s sanity.
The beginning half of the movie is where the light humor mainly resides. Here you can laugh without any feelings of guilt. There are moments of ominous foreboding, but they act as small warnings of what is to come, and do not take much precedent over the romantic courtship between Guido and Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), which is comical as well as touching and very romantic. But its Italy, romance resides almost in the very air.
After viewing this movie I could see why Roberto Benigni is Italy's national treasure. He completely endears himself to the audience with his funny romantic antics, trying so desperately to win the affections of his 'Principessa', his Princess. (I'm Hispanic so I understand some of the Italian. Spanish and Italian are both Latin. My one upshot)
I really liked the eccentrics of Nicoletta Braschi's character as well. She behaves in contrast to how the atypical love interest usually acts. She is actually a flesh and blood character instead of just a love object for Guido to pine after. She has a personality as well as her own blend of idiosyncrasies, like the cute the way she hiccups when she’s nervous and when she loses the back of her dress, she makes herself even more lovable to the audience. These personal traits also help in making her not seem like some perfect love goddess to Guido, and show that one does not have to be perfect in order for someone to be in love with them.
Even though the film is, to borrow from another reviewer, “Holocaust-lite”, it still works well as a touching and original approach to a subject that is usually directed very somber and morosely. I was just surprised that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did even though it was a foreign film, so if you also share my old reservations then I think you should just see it anyway.
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