Life Is Beautiful

Rating:
Summary: LiB is really rather glib
Review: "Best film I've ever seen! " "Fantastic! " "Greatest movie achievement ever! " Hmmm... upon reading some of these customer comments, I really can't escape the feeling that, in an ideal world, people could perhaps be a little bit more discerning about the films they see and not fall so blindly into the trap of the hyperbole. (Nor should they condemn films outright without good cause - there are far, far too many reviews in your columns with either five stars or only one.) There are so many films that are over-hyped these days, and while I can appreciate what Roberto Benigni was trying to achieve, I don't think he was anything like as successful in his film as many seem to believe.

The three-star rating is, in fact, my attempt to give an honest rating to a film that I found moderately successful, but really didn't like at all, not being my taste. I didn't find Benigni's humour that funny or sophisticated, the story was trite and contrived, and the acting was mostly rather mediocre. The second half in the concentration camp was, to my mind, simply wrong-headed. However, to his credit, Benigni attempted to come up with something fresh, original, and essentially life-affirming. (That alone makes a pleasant change in a time where a solid, but not absolutely brilliant, and distinctly unpleasant gangster film, Pulp Fiction, can set the tone for an entire generation.) It's just a shame LiB couldn't have been better.

Despite my reservations regarding the humour, I found the first half of LiBto be the better, since it was mostly just light, unpretentious slapstick. There were one or two most effective scenes, in particular during the wedding, and the general atmosphere was one of flamboyant, Italian light-heartedness. It was really in the second half that I felt the film went downhill. It is really a matter of taste as to whether a comedy about the holocaust can be considered acceptable or not. In principle, I have nothing against the idea, it really depends how it's done. One way would be to use black comedy, much as Kubrick made a black comedy out of nuclear war in Dr. Strangelove. If Kubrick had approached the holocaust in a similar manner, he might have been successful, I doubt whether many other directors would be able to make such a film without offending just about everybody. The problem here, with Benigni's more life-affirming approach, is that it's too pat. The camp scenes are simply unrealistic beyond the point of redemption, despite the obvious comic intent. To say that the film never had claims to depth in the first place, just because it wasn't supposed to be another Schindler's List, is no argument. The film does in fact want to have a more serious claim, because it wants to tell us that life is, indeed, beautiful in the face of all adversity. Unfortunately, the second half of the film is too unfunny and simplistic to convey this message at all convincingly. Instead, it seems to be that all the father had to do to save his son was to make him think the whole camp was part of a game and tell him to hide until it was all over. Then the boy would walk through the gates, meet up with his mother, and everything would be fine again. Whether this (allegorical?) potrayal of concentration camp conditions is unrealistic as such or not, life in general, in my experience, is in any case just not that simple, ever. Life can, of course, be very beautiful and moving, but it requires considerable skill, true (and not just so-called "emotional") intelligence, and sincerity to get through it in one piece, and also an ability to try to appreciate the good things for what they really are, and also to recognize heartbreak and evil for what they are without being overwhelmed by them.

Comparisons may be odious, but the quintessential Italian film on the holocaust has, to my mind, already been made, in 1971: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. This simple, eloquent, finely differentiated and exquisitely photographed film, which, moreover, contains absolutely no graphically brutal (or even concentration camp) scenes, moved me infinitely more than LiB, while also conveying the message that life can, indeed, be beautiful, but that denial of love and truth can lead to terrible loss and tragedy. Though I admire Benigni for his effort, I feel his film is, in comparison with this poignant masterpiece, very much the lesser work.

Rating:
Summary: Worth All the Praise
Review: I hope this foreign film gives Hollywood hope in creating a worthwhile movie that is not centered upon violence, sex, or gore. It is a brilliant and, above all, inventive romantic comedy that transcends the borders of most movies I have ever seen. I earnestly recommend this movie to all individuals, but especially to those who see the world as a skeptic. Get it! Watch it! Laugh, cry, and empathize. My fiancee and I easily consider this the best movie we have yet to see!

Rating:
Summary: This is a wonderful movie!
Review: My family loved this movie. My teenagers laughed all through the first half and cried at the end. Within five minutes, one doesn't even notice the subtitles and the end comes as a complete surprise. Joshua is just adorable. Please see this with subtitles, not dubbed.

Rating:
Summary: Hankies all around!
Review: Many films, in the movie theater and on television, have documented the horrors of The Holocaust. The best of these -- most notably, Speilberg's masterpiece, "Schindler's List" -- relate human anguish and evil incarnate in startling clarity. What's interesting is that as poignant and disturbing as these works have been, they often fail to drive home the unbridled emotion that one would expect from such detail. Perhaps this is due to a sort of "historical phenomena;" intellectually -- and correctly -- we feel that we should be moved, but it's like reading a text book, the most profound emotional connection is lost. With "Life is Beautiful," that elusive bond is crystallized. That is the genius -- yes, genius -- of this film; the relatively cold mental link is superceded by the ethereal in all of us.

This marvelous film is, as our narrator informs us, a fable. The humor is onerously silly, at least by American standards, but it often works. What's unexpectedly wonderful about the lightheartedness of the first half of the movie is that it masterfully sets up the second half. Our idyllic little family, Guido, Dora, and Joshua, are beset upon by a damnable twist of fate -- AND WE ARE TAKEN WITH THEM! What comes next is nothing short of movie magic, that which makes a film a classic. Guido, through a series of thoroughly implausible actions, manages to pull our heartstrings like -- unbelievably -- no other film concerning The Holocaust ever has!

While the film has come under fire from some circles for not depicting an egregious event in history accurately or reverently, I believe that the detractors have focused their senses in the wrong direction. Put aside your pre-conceptions about what movies relating the horrors of WWII "should be like," this film conveys the sorrow and indomitable spirit of a people like no other before it! Watch this movie, better yet, buy it, and be moved to tears like I was!

Rating:
Summary: Help?
Review: For thoes of you who have seen it, does "Life Is Beautiful" have any swearing or bad scenes in it? Why is it rated PG-13? I would love to get it, however, I need to know these things before I do. If you can help answer my questions, write to me at [e-mail]. Thanks!

Rating:
Summary: Expressions of Love
Review: I watched this movie twice this weekend and I can't get it out of my head. The most beautiful story of a man that really knows who he is and what he wants and how even during the most difficult times, makes life beautiful to those around him, his family, his patrons, just his life. Every woman in the world would love to be pursued and loved in this fashion. This is a must-see romantic movie of love and sorrow.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: If you want to see a movie about the power of love triumphing in the face of incredible evil, you have to see this movie! It is an absolutely beautiful fable of a father preserving the innocence of his son by sheltering him from the horrors of the Holocaust. It is just magnificent!

Rating:
Summary: wonderful, wonderful, wonderful
Review: what can you say about a movie that makes you laugh, cry and leaves you breathless.

Roberto plays a wonderful man capturing the heart of his princess and covering up the heartache of WW2 for his young son.

It is heartwrenching to see what they went through in the concentration camps just to make life beautiful for his young son.

Would recommend it to everybody.

It deserved the academy awards it received if not more.

Rating:
Summary: Life Is Beautiful
Review: "Life Is Beautiful" ranks as one of the best pictures of the modern era. Roberto Benigni's talents for comedy, drama and filmmaking allow this film to walk the delicate line of a comedy set at the Holocaust.

The DVD also comes with a featurette, theatrical trailers and the ability to watch the film in either Italian or English. The English version of the film allows you to enjoy all the details in the film.

For the collector of cinema masterpieces, this is a must add to your collection.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but not the best
Review: A brilliantly executed plot, but not even half as good as either "Night of the Shooting Stars" or "Seven Beauties"