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Starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano.
Written and directed by Roberto Benigni. Subtitles.
Guido (Benigni) arrives at his uncle's (Durano) to work as a waiter in his extravagant dining hall in early 1939. As he drives into town, he stops at a farm, and a pretty school teacher (Braschi) falls into his arms from the hayloft in the barn. As time goes by, he continually meets her, and she is charmed by his carefree take on life. But she is currently in a relationship with the local city clerk, a puffed-up beaurocrat enamored with the fascist views of the national government. At an engagement party at his uncle's, Guido discovers the party is for his beautiful teacher and her beaurocrat. But she isn't too happy about it, so she happily accepts Guido's invitation to leave on a horse Guido commandeered to sweep her off her feet. Of course they get married, and soon comes a son. As Italy plunges into the war, rascist Nazi views infest the country. And unfortunately, Guido is really Joshua. He, his son and his uncle are rounded up by the goose-steppers, sandwiched into a train to a German concentration camp. His wife, to Guido's chagrin, demands to be included with her husband and son, and they all arrive at the camp. Guido has decided to make the whole thing a game for his son - the Nazis are cast as the "mean guys who yell a lot." Every disappearing prisoner, every hardship, every act of hiding is part of the game. But how will the game end? Winner of the Palme D'Or at Cannes, and numerous other film festivals, Life Is Beautiful has also generated a large amount of controversy. Making a comedy, and a very broad one, about the evils and horrors of the holocaust on the surface seems very insensitive, although Stalag 17 and Hogan's Heroes seemed to do it without too much complaint. And there are times it is difficult watching Guido trying to explain a horrific occurance to his son, such as the disappearance of children and others and we know what has really happened, in a playful kind of way. But Benigni is not making fun of the people hurt by the Nazis. He is making fun of the Nazis. While the Nazis overwork and humiliate the prisoners, Benigni makes fun of them. He alludes to Chaplin in The Great Dictator with his physical mockery of the Nazis' buffoonery. Guido looks and acts a bit like Harpo Marx, with his wide-eyed, innocent look at life. The movie contains a subversive streak like that of the Marx Brothers, where society's values and government attitudes are held in playful contempt. Benigni seems to feel evil forces are stripped of their power if you are willing to laugh in their face. Benigni himself seems to view himself as a modern Chaplin. He employs similar slapstick comedy - falling out of buildings, crashing a bicycle and twirling hat tricks. He also uses liberal doses of whimsy and sentiment. These work really well in the movie prior to the concentration camp. Beningni is totally charming and funny. But it doesn't work as consistently well at the camp. After watching Schindler's List it's hard to find humour in the prisoners' lack of dignity and in gassing children and seniors, although I know that is not what Benigni is really doing. And it is sometimes hard to believe the explanations that Guido gives his son. But it is beautifully filmed, with a gentleness of spirit which makes the obviously questionable premise palatable and the movie worth seeing.  
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