Life is Beautiful Review
by Edward Johnson-Ott (PBBP24A AT prodigy DOT com)October 28th, 1998
Life Is Beautiful (1997)
(La Vita è bella)
Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bini Bustric, Marisa Paredes, Horst Buchholz, Lidia Alfonsi, Giuliana Lojodice, Giorgio Cantarini, Amerigo Fontani, Pietro De Silva, Francesco Guzzo, Raffaella Lebboroni, Aaron Craig. Screenplay by Roberto Benigni and Vincenzo Cerami. Directed by Roberto Benigni. 114 minutes.
Rated PG-13, 4 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly
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Grand Prix winner at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, "Life Is Beautiful" offers ample rewards to those viewers willing to submit to the peculiar vision of writer, director and star Roberto Benigni. The Italian artist has crafted an often lyrical light romance that abruptly transforms into a deeply moving tale of survival. Despite the film's radical shift in tone, Benigni's message never wavers: life is beautiful if you make it so. While we cannot always control the circumstances around us, we can govern our individual responses. Each person has the capacity to create his or her own internal reality. It's just a matter of willpower.
The film, in Italian with English subtitles, begins as a romantic farce. Guido (Benigni) is a Jewish drifter who stumbles through 1939 Fascist Italy, using his wits and clownish charm to get by. When told of a philosopher's belief in the strength of human will, Guido takes the remarks literally and begins to practice "willing" things to happen. In short order, he successfully courts the beautiful Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's real-life spouse) and builds a thriving business and happy life for his family, blissfully ignoring the growing anti-Semitism around them.
Then in 1945, the final days of World War II, authorities take Guido and his five-year-old son Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini) into custody, herding them onto a train bound for a concentration camp. When Dora hears the news, she races to the train station and insists that she be put onboard as well. Even though she is not Jewish, Dora refuses to leave her family.
At the camp, Guido concocts a story to shield his son from the horrific reality around them. He tells Giosue that it's all an elaborate game. The goal is to accumulate 1000 points. Giosue's eyes widen as he hears of the prize; a real tank, ever so much better than the toy he used to play with. The child listens intently as his father explains the mechanics of the game. The men in uniform will pretend to be very mean. The child must hide when his father instructs him to do so, and never complain about the lack of food or harsh conditions, because complainers will be disqualified and sent home. As their existence grows increasingly difficult, Guido encourages his son to take heart, because more and more people are dropping out and they are growing much closer to winning the game.
While the constant threat of death hovers in the air, Benigni avoids explicit imagery. ''As a comedian,'' he told the L.A. Times, ''I couldn't do like Spielberg with 'Schindler's List' and show the violence directly. It's not my style. My style is to evoke and let people use their imaginations. Sometimes the horror can be even more powerful that way.''
The idea for the story sprang from Benigni's childhood. His father, a soldier imprisoned for two years in a German labor camp, was obsessed by his memories of the ordeal and frequently told his children about the nightmarish camp. Eventually, his wife convinced him that he was scaring the children, so he started telling the tales in a lighter way. ''He found funny things to say, even when dealing with these painful circumstances,'' said Benigni. ''The way he was telling the stories is exactly what I have done in my story.''
The film's title came from Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, who wrote that he believed ''life is beautiful,'' even as he sat trapped in a bunker, waiting for Stalin's agents to assassinate him. Benigni found the statement profound, saying ''I fell in love with this simple phrase, 'Life is beautiful.' Even with darkness all around us, we can still find beauty. That is true strength.''
Benigni's film is beautiful as well, although the going is often difficult. While the first half of the story has a certain charm, the pratfall comedy is more ingenious than funny, and Benigni's mugging gets old fast. The performer has been called the Robin Williams of Italy, and, like Williams, his comedic grandstanding frequently becomes overbearing. Thankfully, the lyricism of the story outweighs his lack of subtlety.
Nicoletta Braschi is adequate as Dora, although she lacks the depth necessary to convincingly express the emotions beneath her character's brave actions. As Giosue, young Giorgio Cantarini is a real charmer, interacting flawlessly with Benigni. When he questions his father's story, fearfully stating ''A man was crying. He said they make buttons and soap out of us,'' the effect is devastating.
Of the supporting cast, Horst Buchholz is memorable as a riddle- obsessed German doctor, providing one of the film's most poignant moments late in the story; Giustino Durano is haunting as Guido's uncle, and Aaron Craig does America proud in a brief appearance as a benevolent U.S. soldier.
It's not easy to sit through ''Life Is Beautiful.'' Between Benigni's mugging, the often flat comedy, and the structure of the piece, it's actually quite hard. But those up to challenge will receive ample dividends. Benigni's unique concept and wonderful message about the human spirit makes this awkward, ungainly film well worth the trouble.
© 1998 Ed Johnson-Ott
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