LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (LA VITA E BELLA) (M).
Director:Roberto Beningi
Stars: Roberto
Beningi, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio
Cantarini, Horst Bucholz, Marisa
Paredes, Sergio Bustric, Giustino
Durano
Running Time:122 minutes.
In many of his films, Italian actor, writer and director
Roberto Benigni (Johnny Stecchino, etc) displayed a
physical style of comedy not unlike Chaplin. Like
Chaplin, he also has his serious side, which comes to
the fore in this haunting, profoundly moving and
human story.
Set in a concentration camp towards the end of
W.W.II, Life Is Beautiful (La Vita E Bella) is about
the power of love, hope and laughter in the face of
death and tragedy.
Benigni plays a Jewish man interned inside a
concentration camp, who lies to his son, pretending
that their tragic predicament is merely a game. When
he announced he was making a comic fable about the
Holocaust, Benigni copped plenty of flak. He has
since been vindicated, with the film winning the
Grand Jury Prize at Cannes earlier this year. Life Is
Beautiful also deserves to start outright favourite to
win the Best Foreign Film at next year's Oscars!
Benigni delivers the best performance of his career as
Guido, a simple, accident prone bookseller who
moves to Tuscany in 1938, to seek his fortune. He
falls in love with the beautiful school teacher Dora
(Nicoletta Braschi, a regular of Benigni's movies),
and does his best to impress her and woo her away
from her wealthy but pompous fiancé.
Benigni gives us plenty of slapstick humour and
delightful running jokes, and maintains a light, breezy
pace. He deliberately evokes images of classic films,
from Chaplin's The Great Dictator, through to The
Bicycle Thieves. The film moves unexpectedly from
the giddy humour of its beautiful love story to more
poignant and powerfully heart wrenching drama.
Although early scenes contain some dire warnings
about storm clouds gathering over Europe and
examples of anti-Semitism, little prepares audiences
for the gut wrenching change of direction.
One day, Guido and his young son are taken by the
Nazis and put on a train bound for the concentration
camps. Dora pleads to be allowed to board the train,
hoping that they can be together as a family. Thus
begins the grim struggle to survive the brutal camps
and the vicious regime of hard work and discipline.
Guido tells his frightened five year old son that the
whole thing is a surprise birthday game, and the first
person to accumulate 1000 points wins a tank.
Benigni suffuses this ironically titled tale of survival
and the triumph of the human spirit with a wonderful
sense of black humour and optimism. He uses
remarkable restraint in downplaying the grim horrors
of the Nazi camps, which makes the atrocities all the
more affecting and ultimately moving. He contrasts
the innocence of Nazi children playing hide and seek
with the greater suffering of the inmates. Through
Benigni's sensitive handling of disturbing subject
matter, Life Is Beautiful is a deeply affecting
experience that will move many in the audience to
tears.
Tonino Delli Colli's cinematography even captures
the two distinct moods of the film. The first half is
shot in bright and glorious colours, and has a
wonderful energy. The second half however is shot in
darker, gloomy colours that give the film an
oppressive atmosphere and a claustrophobic feel.
During the almost two years of pre-production
preparation, Benigni extensively researched the
camps, speaking with many survivors and historians,
to ensure accuracy.
Life Is Beautiful features a guileless performance
from young newcomer Giorgio Cantarini, who is
appealing and quite touching as Guido's son. The film
also features a sympathetic performance from Horst
Bucholz, one of the original Magnificent Seven, as a
Nazi doctor who is sympathetic towards Guido's
plight but helpless to really alleviate his situation.
Despite its bleak subject matter, Benigni's Life Is
Beautiful is a triumph. This deeply affecting human
drama is one of the finest films of 1998!