Review of Life Is Beautiful (1997) by Harry W — 05 Aug 2013

La vita e bella, better known in English speaking countries as Life is Beautiful, begins as an exquisite sophisticated comedy with elements reminiscent of an Italian Charlie Chaplin, as well as and excellent drama that handles its themes so well that it's inspiring and sweet and sad and funny and so many other things. To put it bluntly, Life is Beautiful is the Citizen Kane of Italian films, not just due to its excellence but due to the efforts of writer, director and actor Roberto Benigni.

Life is Beautiful succeeds in conveying the message that comes from its title, as the first half of the film is a comedy so sweet and uplifting that its practically magical and evolves into somewhat of a realistic fantasy until transitioning into a tough drama.

And from a technical standpoint, it's excellently crafted due to the stunning cinematography, excellent film editing and most perfectly, the impeccable musical score which is so perfect that it sets the emotional feel of the story just right.

But what's most incredible is the script, as the way it handles so many complicated plot dynamics so cleverly before it even hits the screen ensures that the actors all have so much to work with before it hits the screen and it is one of the finest comedic screenplays I've even known to have existed, and to have such a fine comedic screenplay handle such sensitive drama is truly a miraculous thing. Roberto Benigni and Vincenzo Cerami are true insightful geniuses.

The plot of the story is handled perfectly, and so it's just a solidly incredible thing to watch.

And I cried at the end of the story for a combination of things, for the sadness and the happiness was just in such perfect balance that my eyes became host to streaks of tears that have so much meaning to them, with one of them sad and one of them happy. Each eye was a host to two emotions in Life is Beautiful, and so the experience was exhilarating.

The performance of Roberto Benigni is so absolutely perfect that he is just impossible to dislike and even though the audience knows he'll end up in a concentration camp, they forget it and get immersed in his absolute charm and skill as a hilarious Italian actor that deals with drama well too, and so the fact that a man so sweet and funny would end up in such a fearful place is horrible and heart wrenching, and it drives it above other war dramas due to the emotional attachment locked in with Guido Orefice long before the themes of war drama kick in. We continue with him, loving him every step of the way through his stepping out onto a trains as he tells his son that they reserved tickets to go to play a game, and up and until the events of the story's end. Whats amazing is the way that the audience connects with him so amazingly that viewers understand what it's like to witness a loves one go through the horrors of the holocaust, and so things become all the more intense and amazing. At the beginning, I predicted that having to read a large amount of subtitles would remove the comedic tone of the acting, but Roberto Benigni restored complete faith into that as the story took off, because it became an excellent hybrid of clever dialogue, fine Italian line delivery and hilarious physical actions that give comedic appeal to the entire world. Of course, much of this is present in much of the cast, but not as much as in Roberto Benigni. There is too much for me to say about Roberto Benigni's performance in Life is Beautiful, but not enough words in the world for me to describe it, so i'll simplify it: Roberto Benigni's performance was enlightening, hilarious, wonderful, sweet, charming, silly, perfect, dramatic, skilfully crafted and worthy of an Academy Award and many other awards, and that he gave one of the finest performances in the history of cinema. In my personal opinion he gave the single greatest acting performance in the history of film.

Nicoletta Braschi also gave a sweet and great performance, playing a good part in the drama of the story and having impeccable chemistry with Roberto Benigni, primarily because they are in fact in love in real life, so their chemistry is charming. Her role as a mother was played well and her emotional loneliness was really well portrayed in a simple sense in the second half of the story. Every time she was greeted with "Good Morning Princess!" the audience smiles like she does, so she's great as a character in her own and to add to the determination of Guido Orefice.

Giorgio Cantarini gave one hell of a fine juvenile performance, amazing because the way his characters innocence is preserved through the whole story can be reflected merely through the sweet and charming look in his eyes and the sweet tone of his voice. It's difficult to find you actors to portray such drama so well and still maintain the charm of a young child, but Italy has clearly had no issues because Giorgio Cantarini succeeds playing his role perfectly and has clearly learned a few tricks from Roberto Benigni in the physical acting sense, and so his performance is all to sweet and simply great in Life is Beautiful and is too realistically the son of both Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi.

I can see where some of the criticisms come from, namely because limited by his small budget, Roberto Benigni hasn't been given enough to create a film that accurately depicts every inch of the suffering in a concentration camp, and it makes the entire idea seem like its not half bad which isn't likely to please people.

Also, the comedic approach to themes involved with the holocaust would have stirred up a lot of criticism, especially for the people who suffered in it. Although the small budget limits it and the horrors are clearly apparent, they aren't expressed as truly as in a film like Schindler's List, but it doesn't reach for as many heartstrings either, so it's lighter to watch, which is good for a comedy-drama.

So Life is Beautiful succeeds at getting across the titular message and is an absolutely magnificent comedy-drama which succeeds in both areas, and is just so unforgettable that watching it twice in 3 days still isn't enough for me. I loved this movie, and I reiterate that it is in fact the Citizen Kane of Italian films.