Three of the five Academy Awards Best Picture nominees for 1998-99 take place during World War II. The lesser shown of the two, Life is Beautiful surpasses the others in unimaginable ways.
The main name in this movie is one that has been becoming popular in the United States for quite some time now, and will definitely become stronger in the years to come: Italian Actor/Comedian/Screenwriter/Director Roberto Benigni. Benigni has made a name for himself worldwide as the most talented and creative moviemaker outside of Hollywood. Life is Beautiful, his latest, makes no exception to this gospel.
In Life is Beautiful, or La Vita e Bella por Italiano's, Benigni plays a whimsical Jewish-Italian waiter named Guido Orifece, making his living in pre-World War II Italy. The first hour of the movie is a captivating love story of how Guido meets his "Princepessa," his future-wife who literally fell out of the heavens, into his arms. Guido does everything he can to make this woman notice him, including some of-the-wall impersonations, thefts, and even some slapstick physical comedy (While staring at his "Princess" and trying to serve food at the same time, Guido flips over a chair, spilling a tray of hors d'oveurs.) Tinged with a slight amount of racial conflict, these scenes are neatly daubed with hilarious dialogue, for which Benigni was nominated for Best Screenplay.
The second half of the film branches off into a new, disturbing setting. Years after he and his wife married and have an intelligent young son, named Joshua. On Joshua's 8th birthday, Guido and his family are taken away by the Nazis to a concentration camp. In order to shield his innocent boy from the horrors of the concentration camp, Guido literally turns the whole affair into a game, telling his son that by not crying or begging for food, and by doing what the "mean people who yell" say, he can accumulate points. Guido tells Joshua that if he gains 1000 points, he will win a real, working tank. Throughout his painstaking experience in the concentration camp, Guido is continually trying to contact his wife in various ways, such as pirating the camp's P.A. system on his way to work hard labor in the camp.
As the very first light-hearted look at the Holocaust, Life is Beautiful is not just another movie about the inhuman horrors of Nazi genocide. In fact, the brutality of the movie is low enough to grade it a PG-13 rating, for the director in no way tries to inflame the outlook of the "20th Century's most defining atrocity." This movie is about one great man's quest to protect his loved ones at any cost, continually risking death to save his family. Benigni's story follows the life and ideals of an extraordinary man, who, when in possession the sheer will to do something, can make anything happen. It explores the power of love, human emotion, and determination.
This year during the Academy Awards, expect to hear this Benigni's name several times, for he has brought a powerful masterpiece into our country, and for that, this critic is most grateful.
-Ethan Kaplan
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2/27/99