Rating: 
Summary: This is no "Hogan's Heroes"
Review: Roberto Benigni was audacious to even consider portraying the experience of a Jewish family during the Holocaust as a subject for comedy, but he has succeeded masterfully. I can well understand the reservations that many bring to this film. It is important to note, however, that Benigni's comedy never makes light of the Holocaust itself; rather, it is the means by which the resourceful Guido (Benigni) attempts to salvage his son's innocence. Guido is a heroic character, using the only tools at his command in a desperate situation. When the child is not present, the film does allow us a few darker glimpses at the horror of the camps although these are admittedly few. I believe that humor, being one of the most delightful inventions of human creativity, can be an appropriate response to the darkness that also exists in the human soul. The comedy of "Life Is Beautiful" exhalts the human spirit without doing so at the expense of the Holocaust's victims.
Rating:
Summary: Best film of all time!
Review: I don't cry during many films but I always remeber the kleenex box with this one. While this movie accurately portrays the horrors of the nazi camps, it also mixes in a story about a man who tries to protect his son by telling him that it is all a game. There are some valuable lessons in this film about the importance of a positive attitude and laughter,love and the innocence of childhood. If you haven't seen this one...well it's as good as they come.
Rating:
Summary: A Genuine Heart Toucher
Review: I saw this on VHS two years ago and almost cried. This story of a family's experience in the Holocaust shows what happens in concentration camps, and how three people lived before... and during it. The first half is filled with comic relief. The second half, however is much more serious. Overall, it is paced well. The lead Robert Benigni ingeniously portrays his character, a fast-thinking, outgoing and friendly man who dreams of owning a book store. He meets his wife and all seems, well, beautiful... until he and their son are taken to concentration camps. What he does for his son during their long time of imprisonment is what makes this film a sweet heart-wrencher. Two thumbs up for brilliant story.
Rating: 
Summary: Please Be Careful
Review: It has taken me months to finally come to a decision on this movie. There is a review on this page that says it best: "If you know a lot about WW II and the Holocaust, then the movie is hard to watch and it's hard to accept that its humor fits. But if you are new to the subject or feel rather emotionally distant from it, perhaps you can enjoy the movie as a moving inspirational story. Perhaps." I found this movie's lighthearted, sanitary, and comic portrayal of the Holocaust under a wall of sentimentality extremely hard to accept. Yet, at the same time, each and every person who I know who has seen it and who is not as familiar with the Holocaust and WWII as I, has found it to be a tragic story. For those familiar with the time period, you know that "tragic" is a tame and happy word when used next to "holocaust". There simply are no words to adequately describe the depths of that time. I have to conclude beyond doubt that the fact that it has won so much acclaim attests to the fact that the perspective of the Holocaust has begun to fade irretrievably from memory. This is most distressing.
But I must say, Robert B. is great in the first half where he meets courts his wife. And also, I confess, the scene where he's translating for the German Guard in the camp...I found myself laughing despite myself. I love Robert B.'s humor. Still, please be careful to understand history before letting this movie to close to you. It is as real as a pink plastic Easter egg.
Rating:
Summary: Life is Beautiful
Review: The title of this movie is perfect as it describes how the character Roberto Benigni thinks. To describe the movie as humourous should be redefined as a black humour. The story is centered on the holocaust and the prisoner who hides his son with him in the concentration camp so he can be near him. He wants him to believe nothing is wrong and his antics to convince him of this fact could be construed as humourous. He actually is showing his great love for his son and I feel this comes forth much more strongly than the humour. I watched this movie and felt a strong sense of protectiveness over my own children.
It is a great story for both adults and children (probably older).
Rating:
Summary: I love Roberto Benigni
Review: I love this movie, it's funny, but it's also poignent, and based on Roberto Benigni's father's experiences in a concentration camp. If you liked this movie you should check out Robert Benigni's other films, Johnny Stecchino is absolutely hysterical, you must see that film if you liked this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Two topics difficult to mix in a movie
Review: Grief and happiness, pain and joy, laughing and crying... choose the words. Two such contrastable feelings being mixed in one single movie. The intent is good, but the result was not that good for me: You are just enjoying the last joke you heard in the movie when you have to watch a scene of sorrow, and vice versa. Try eating hot Mexican or Indian food and your favorite sweet cake, at the same time, not one after finishing another. You'll understand what I mean. The movie becomes superficial: you can't enjoy the jokes at their best because you are expecting some sad parts to come and, again, vice versa.
Rating:
Summary: A father's gift to his family....
Review: There are really no words to describe this movie. All I can say is.....you must watch it. It shows how even in the worst possible situation a man rises above his own pain and sorrow to make the life of a child seem like a wonderful game. It is best to experience this story and not read too much about it. I knew absolutely nothing about the story, took the chance and it was a wonderful story that taught a great lesson about love and how lucky we are to be alive. It also shows the evil side of mankind in the concentration camp, yet there are no scenes that are too awful to watch. While some might argue that this is not the place to joke around, I can say that it was done in good taste and was for the child's benefit. For once, I am having trouble describing a movie! It just has to be experienced. I have never seen anything like it before.
Rating:
Summary: This life is not so beautiful...
Review: About a year ago I wrote a controversial review over this movie. I decided to pull it off in the end because I realized it didn't convey my opinion correctly.
Today I want to repeat my efforts to point out the things that were wrong in this film, because I truly think someone did here something unjustified and got away with it.I know the most see it a remarkable 'human spirit victory', not me. To begin with, it's all attached to the way you allow yourself to perceive the Holocaust.
Most recently, I've read the opinion of an Austrian Philosopher, that his beliefs raised much ado in the European academies. He has published an article that, in short, speaks about the need to percept the actuality of the Holocaust as another tragedy among many in the 20th century. He reminds us that there were more than a few like-Shoas genocide events and that one shouldn't dramatize this in particular.
He resents the sacredness people are giving to the Holocaust, and claims that it harms the greater goal of healing and evolving to a better humanity as a whole. Why have I mentioned this ? Because I suspect his thoughts, in a way , are given form in this film.
First of all, you'd have to agree with me that the main subject of this movie is the Holocaust(and the efforts to inclose it from the child). Moreover, it's not just a comedy - it has a purpose. Now we can begin our journey. Half a movie is evidently almost a pure comedy. The terror that is to come is cued, very subtly. With the other half I have my problems, because here we really enter the concentration camp, and the Holocaust.
Up till now, ok, the father concealed the truth from the son -and from the rest of the viewers. But once in the camp - the comedy continues, AND, a person can get the impression that this is what it really was.I would causiously say taht you might give legitimacy to Holocaust deniers by screening this film-they will find a lot to hang on to. It's wrong to put things in this light. You see the reality of the camp through the eyes of a child ,as a game, and people might think - hell, maybe that what it really was, everything else is another pulp fiction of the Jews ! I feel that this movie help those who are responsible, or feel responsible to polish their conscience. How? By pretending it wasn't that bad, not to say it wasn't at all. Recall this scene: after the supper with the Germans, the father takes his son to their quarters. There is mist all around, and everything is foggy - and exactly then he witnesses for the first and last time a stack of dead bodies ,apparently Jews, the only innuendo in the film for what is really going on . He fortunately succeeds in preventing his son from seeing.The wrong is the whole atmosphere which allude us this was all a dream,a Nightmare - the dead pile wasn't real!
Look, I didn't spend watching the movie searching for things like that, but it just popped up and really bothered me - and there are more examples like that .
I admit, an article I'd read before I saw the movie influenced me. But aren't we all ?
We criticize things all the time - so why regard a 'non harmful' comedy, when it is about the Shoa, as it is? I looked deeper and found disturbing messages all over the film that I feel shouldn't be ignored. That's why it was important for me to express it, even though most folks disagree. Do not take the film as innocent as it appears! This 'comedy' had a purpose, and it wasn't just to entertain us. Getting back to the Philosopher I started with, this film is the first I know ,that allows itself to look in another glasses over the ,up to this point, a somber ,terrible and serious tragedy. 'All the sudden' it is fine not to dramatize the whole concept . We can start talking now with the 'take it easy' terms. It's not a major disgraceful point in the humanity evolution anymore, like it can be interpreted from the opinion of the Philosopher. I hope reading this clarified your understanding of my resentment from the movie,though you may still wouldn't agree with me...
Rating: 
Summary: Remember the Theater of the Absurd?
Review: Roberto Benigni's celebrated affirmation of the human spirit owes a little to "Rhinoceros," Ionesco's absurdist play from the Sixties. There's the same attempt to reduce the worse horror in human history to the absurd. Perhaps this is a way of comprehending something monstrous beyond comprehension. Benigni was criticized in some circles for trivializing the Holocaust, but that is not what he did. He sought to rise above it. I don't know whether he or Ionesco were really successful. On the other hand has anybody-any religion, philosophy or great artist-ever solved the problem of evil in this world? There's something of Charlie Chaplin in Benigni's irrepressible hero, and in the camera work look for the influence of Orson Wells in light and shadow. The strange splashes of color on such places as the concentration camps walls reminded me curiously of Jacque Demy's "Umbrellas of Cherbourg," a wondrous French operetta from the Sixties (starring Catherine Deneuve, music by Michel Legrand). The movie is a little slow at times and we miss a lot of Benigni's mugging as our eyes chase after the subtitles (get the dubbed version), but the central idea, that with our attitudes we create the world, and that life can be beautiful even in the midst of tragedy, is uplifting, if hard to believe.
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