Life is Beautiful Review
by Bill Chambers (wchamber AT netcom DOT ca)October 21st, 1998
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (LA VITA È BELLA) **** (out of four)
-a review by Bill Chambers ([email protected])
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starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
screenplay by Roberto Benigni and Vincenzo Cerami
directed by Roberto Benigni
At last May’s Cannes’ awards ceremony, hyphenate Benigni—whose LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL had just won the Grand Jury Prize—jumped from his seat, bowed at jury president Martin Scorsese’s feet, and danced around the stage with tears in his eyes. It was a rare moment of humour at the stuffy, elitist festival, and his reaction instantly disarmed a deadly serious audience. In short, for a few brief moments he turned Cannes into something it arguably had never been before: funny and sweet. His film pulls off a similar magic trick: LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL is a bittersweet comedy that takes place (mostly) in a concentration camp.
Benigni stars as Guido, a clever and warm Jewish-Italian waiter who relentlessly pursues "princess" Dora (Braschi) until she can no longer resist him; within a few years, they are married and with child, the inquisitive Giosué (Cantarini). But not long after Guido also realizes his dream of opening a bookstore is he herded, along with his son and uncle (Durano), to the camps. (Loving Dora, whose heritage allows her to stay behind, joins them anyway.)
Guido wants to protect Giosué from the horrible truth, so he tells his son that they are players of a complex game: the winner gets to ride in a tank! (I loved the moment when Guido voluntarily mistranslates a barking soldier’s orders just so he can establish a set of "rules": no talking, hide from the mean-looking men in uniforms, and don’t ask for sandwiches.) The boy’s eventual suspicions force Guido to cover up his lies with more lies: one brilliant sequence has Giosué disguised as a German boy so he can enjoy a big fancy dinner at which Guido has been asked to wait tables—Giosué has no idea how close he comes to being killed after accidentally applauding his meal in Italian.
The first third of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL is very whimsical; nothing prepares us for its narrative’s left turn. Benigni moves with the grace of Fred Astaire, can take a pratfall like Buster Keaton, and at times his verbal pitter-patter is a one-man Abbott and Costello routine; Benigni is the current clown prince of cinema. (Is it any wonder Blake Edwards tried to revive the Pink Pather series with Benigni as the son of Inspector Clouseau?) It is thanks to Benigni’s benign performance (his eyes project nothing but sincerity) that not one second of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL is maudlin or cloying; that said, I can’t imagine a person unmoved by the film’s ending. Guido is a completely unselfish man who simply utilizes his gifts to make the best of the worst situation. He does what many a father would do, and the climax drives that point home.
Before the haunting LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL took home its Cannes award (it also recently won the Toronto International Film Festival’s Audience Award), there was speculation that its subject matter might stir up controversy. By now, I’m sure the unanimously positive reaction to the film has quelled the Jewish community’s (among others) fears; LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL does not make light of the holocaust whatsoever. Instead, it embraces the bravery of its victims, and educates its audience through truly accessible characters.
-October, 1998
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