Review of Life Is Beautiful (1997) by Troy R — 26 Sep 2014

1998 was a mixed year for cinema, on one hand it gave us some really dreadful to average films like Godzilla, Dr. Dolittle, Lethal Weapon 4 and Armageddon; but it also gave us memorable to spectacular films like Shakespeare in Love, A Bug´s Life, The Thin Red Line, American History X and the best for most people: Saving Private Ryan. Despite those great films, if someone asks me which my favorite film from 1998 is, I will easily respond: "La vita è bella".

Guido Orefice is a young Jewish man who lives in Italy in 1939. He falls in love with a young woman named Dora and eventually, after some hard work to get her attention, they get married and have a kid named Joshua. Some few years later, fascism has taken over of Italy and the whole family is sent to a concentration camp. Once inside the camp, Guido uses his imagination and over the top personality to hide the situation from his young son and to keep them both alive and reunite them with her beloved wife Dora.

Few non English spoken films had managed to be memorable and "La vita è bella" is one of them. The first thing that needs to praised is Benigni´s courage for telling a comedy in the depressing setup of the Holocaust, that's a gigantic risk that hadn't been done again since 1940 in Chaplin´s "The Great Dictator", but it paid off perfectly thanks to Benigni´s writing, acting and directing. The story presented here is so beautiful and heartbreaking that it remains as the only film that has managed to make me cry, the acting is excellent with the standout being, obviously, Benigni in his portray as a man willing to do everything he can in order to keep his son unaware of the brutal reality they now live in, is heartbreaking but when he is distracting his son is hilarious, it reminds me of the slapstick comedy from the Charles Chaplin films; the comedic timing is done with absolute perfection which makes this film work instead of being an insulting/annoying fantastic tale set up in one of the greatest tragedies in history, the score captures the essence of the story and enhances the experience, and the pacing of this film is excellent, it is goes from being depressing to hopeful and hilarious.

"La vita è bella" is a phenomenal film that will make you feel different emotions, from sad to cheerful. One of the most memorable non English spoken films I´ve ever seen and one of the three films that made me a lover of the seventh art in my preteen years.