Life Is Beautiful

Rating:
Summary: Should be a requirement for fathers everywhere
Review: Having read many of the other reviews I will simply say that this film has actually made me a better father. Although this is fictional it helped me realize that my children don't need to know how bad things are going. They will have their fair share of hard times later. I watch this movie whenever I feel as though I'm losing that focus. When your children are happy, life IS beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, poignant, but an historical travesty
Review: Hundreds of reviews? What's all the fuss about? This is very much a film of two halves. The first half is a classic slapstick romance, the second half, a black comedy. These two link together, but the change of pace is jarring and is signalled by the arrival of the main characters at a concentration camp. I wondered how it could be possible to make a comedy of the holocaust, and now I know - depict a fantasy rather than reality. The film is 'unrealistic' in the extreme, but this only partly detracts from the main message, that life and love are stronger than fear and death. I'm not a person who laughs out loud at slapstick - and here yet another egg in the hat routine bores me. But despite the sometimes formulaic pratfalls this film has some comedic moments that are truly inspired. Benigni's arrival at the town school to explain and inadvertantly debunk racial superiority, for instance, or his impromptu 'translation' of the rules of the concentration camp, are simultaneously hilarious and poignant. If you're looking for a film about the holocaust, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a great sentimental comedy with some fine moments, this is one for you. If you've already seen it and loved it, try 'Il Postino' (The Postman). Its better.

Rating:
Summary: Inspired.
Review: I do not speak Italian, had never heard of Roberto Benigni and detest chaotic, slapstick humour. This film contains all of the above and oddly, I loved it and thought it a truly wonderful film. (I ended up watching it twice in 24 hours). Having briefly scanned other reviews about this DVD, I know I do not need to go into great depth about its content and quiet magnificence. Suffice to say it is a gentle, funny, spiritually inspiring film and you must see it. Roberto Benigni deserved all the accolades he got for this.

Additionally, I must say that the horse scene and the German translation scene rendered me a howling heap on the floor and I had to pause it in order to compose myself and not miss any lines. And this is a movie about the Holocaust?

Rating:
Summary: For the love of his family...
Review: Before I watched this movie, I thought that it was set in a very bleak environment. But I never expected that I could be that wrong!

The movie began with cheers and laughter, showing viewers how Guido met his "princess". It could be said that it for 'love at first sight' for him. His funny and romantic nature won the love of his "princess".

When they were married and had a little boy, Joshua. But good things never stay for long. Guido and Joshua was sent to the concentration camp. When his wife learnt of this, she volunteered to go to the camp with them. Out of the love for his family, Guido hid the truth of the ugliness of the war from his son by telling him that they were on a holiday and playing a game in the camp.

This touching movie will move the hearts of many, showing all that " Life is Beautiful" if one allows it to be.

Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic... yet a must see
Review: I have seen many holocaust movies, what makes this one stand apart is that it is a comedy( Yes, you heard me) The story doesn't lose screen time devoting the movie to horrific hardships of the holocaust. Instead it stays on target, and focuses on the relationship of a father and his son in a concentration camp. The father convinces his son that it is all a game, and he must stay hidden(at all times) in order to win first prize. Could this really have happenned? No, but you need to take this movie with a grain of salt. It is simply terrific. I would never have thought that I would laugh, cry, or feel so good about myself after watching a holocaust movie.

Rating:
Summary: Roberto was great, and the movie was a gem
Review: I loved Life is Beautiful. The actor(esses) were great; the storyline was great. It's a unique tale about an Italian-Jewish man and his family. When the man(Roberto) and his son are sent to a concentration camp during the WWII, his heartbroken wife sacrifices her freedom and pleads to German officials to let her be sent to con. camps too. LIfe is Beautiful superbly crafts this family's story before and after their exile. I saw this movie in both Italian and English versions, and I laughed and cried in both. It's a remarkable movie with Oscar-caliber actors.

Rating:
Summary: Holocaust Lite
Review: "Life is Beautiful" is a superb film in many ways. Roberto Benigni is a brilliant comic actor and is certainly at the top of his game in this movie. Some scenes such as his impersonation of the fascist lecturer in the Italian primary school are outstanding. In this scene, Benigni has posed as the lecturer in order to get close to the teacher he is in love with. Unfortunately before Benigni can approach her, he is asked to give the students a lecture on Aryan racial superiority. So in a moment of genius the swarthy, dark-haired Benigni strips down to his boxer shorts and demonstrates his "perfect Aryan features".

While I enjoyed the comic genius of the film, I was deeply disturbed by its fictitious, understated portrayal of the Nazi death camp. Anyone who has encountered documentary footage and source material from the holocaust can see staggering contrasts between the fictional death camp in "Life is Beautiful" and the real thing. For example, real death camp prisoners would never have been as healthy looking and well fed when disembarking from the cattle cars as the ones in "Life is Beautiful". They would have been greeted with beatings, killings and an instant sense of what the place was all about. If the child, Joshua had survived for more than a few hours (which was almost impossible) he would have been under no illusion about what kind of place he was in. If you don't believe me then read the accounts of Elie Weisel and other youthful survivors of the death camp. What life people clung to in such places was brutal. The horror was so total and so pervasive that even a genius like Roberto Benigni would never have successfully convinced his son that the whole thing was a game.

Does this make "Life is Beautiful" a bad movie? Well, it does and it doesn't. The dramatic quality of the film is superb. Unfortunately, the only way the film was able to float its main premise-that a loving father could fool his son into thinking that a deadly situation was just a game-was to tone down the holocaust. This is a terribly irresponsible thing to do for the sake of dramatic quality. There are only a few things in life are too staggering and too important to be molded into comic material, but genocide is certainly one of them.

Rating:
Summary: un historia muy linda
Review: esta historia nos ensena que a pesar de todo la vida es bella, es un canto a la esperanza cuando parece que toda esperanza se ha perdido, que no nos queda mas ramedio que echarnos por los suelos a llorar, pero este hombre por amor a su hijo y a sabiendas de que no hay salida decide irse por el camino de la esperanza, pues aunque el no logre salir con vida, su hijo que nos cuenta la historia, se encargara de darnos esa chispa que a veces nos hace falta para creer.... la pelicula me estremecio y me sorprendio, ni siquiera tuve tiempo para las lagrimas pues la sorpresa y el asombro fueron mayores. excelente pelicula, no dejen de verla.

LUIS MENDEZ [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Hands down the best movie I have ever seen
Review: This movie was incredible. The first time I watched it, I couldn't decide to laugh, cry, or watch it again. So I did all three. The setting of the movie was the Holocaust, a horrible time in history that still has the power to move people to tears. Still, I had to smile through my tears at this extremely life-affirming movie. The wit of this movie is indescribable. It is a very passionate movie that had me falling off my seat laughing, sobbing to the point of pausing the movie to wash my face, and smiling until my face hurt. This movie really affected me in a very physical way. If you haven't seen this movie, please do. You will not regret it, it is an amazing movie that I will never forget.

Rating:
Summary: An essential movie to understand more about life.
Review: I first saw Life is Beautiful in a small theater in a Chicago suburb. From the moment I sat down I knew this movie would impact me. No one else except Roberto Benigni could have created a masterpiece on the gruesome subject of a Nazi concentration camp. The film portrays all the virtues that a human being should have like love, hope, courage, and sacrifice. Demonstrating some important thematic points, Life is Beautiful will not leave you depressed. You will find yourself laughing at the comic genius of Benigni, smiling at the tender moments, and maybe crying when you feel like it. This is an excellent film for the ultimate film buff or the novice saturday night movie watcher. Be prepared to be amazed and changed by this film.

Ciao!