LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL Movie Review

La Vita E Bella

1998 Roberto Benigni

Despite its astonishing boxoffice success, Roberto Benigni's romantic comedy set during the Holocaust is a troubling film on several levels. Given his choice of genres, the film necessarily lightens its subject. The characters never really acknowledge it either, treating the terrorist acts of fascist thugs as bothersome distractions from the more important business of courtship. Only in one brief shot does the filmmaker attempt to face the reality of his subject, and then he keeps it at a distance and shrouds it in lacy fog.

The story begins in Italy, 1939, where Guido Orefice (Benigni) is trying to open a bookstore and working as a waiter in the meantime. He's a puckish, quick-witted fellow, always ready to conjure up a fanciful line of patter, particularly when he meets a pretty girl like Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, also Mrs. Benigni). He falls hard for her and is not dissuaded by the facts that she's a teacher and the daughter of a wealthy family. No, Guido pursues her with all the charm and imagination he can muster.

That side of the film takes up roughly the first half. Benigni, who also wrote and directed, plays a Chaplinesque hero, the lovable little guy who avoids direct confrontations whenever possible and deftly skates circles around his oafish foes. His pursuit of Dora is a clever construction of interlocking plot elements: a key thrown from a second floor window, a bolt of silk, a running gag about stealing his uncle's hat. All of the action is so neatly contrived that the film essentially ends when it's over and then begins again with the introduction of Guido and Dora's child Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini) a few years later.

With little fanfare, Guido and Giosue are sent off to a labor camp. Dora follows. The railway journey and the camp itself are darker than the first section, but not nearly as dark as the reality behind them. Guido concocts an elaborate fantasy about a game they are playing to keep the truth of the situation from his son. It's a tenuous premise made possible by only the most massive and intense suspension of disbelief. Particularly toward the end, when Giosue is so easily hidden from the guards, it becomes very difficult to remain involved with the film.

Also, as director and actor, Benigni is such a camera hog that he leaves little room for his co-stars. As co-writer (with Vincenzo Cerami), he does his wife few favors. Dora has almost nothing to do. In almost all of her scenes, she simply stands there looking beautiful and sad and noble. She is allowed to smile a few times, but mostly she's beautiful and sad and noble.

Since the story is in part autobiographical, Benigni defuses the issue of exploitation, but his handling of the subject is open to criticism. The Holocaust is the central tragedy of this century. The mass extermination of specific “undesirables” for racist reasons is a horror that tests our belief in our own humanity. Roberto Benigni is trying to reaffirm that belief. Charlie Chaplin attempts the same in The Great Dictator. Neither is completely successful.

Cast: Roberto Benigni (Guido Orefice), Nicoletta Braschi (Dora), Giustino Durano (Uncle Zio), Sergio Bustric (Ferruccio Orefice), Horst Buchholz (Dr. Lessing), Giorgio Cantarini (Giosue Orefice), Marisa Paredes (Dora's mother), Lidia Alfonsi (Guicciardini), Giuliana Lojodice (School principal); Written by: Vincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni; Cinematography by: Tonino Delli Colli; Music by: Nicola Piovani. Producer: Elda Ferri, Gianluigi Braschi; released by Miramax Films. Italian. Awards: Academy Awards '98: Best Actor (Benigni), Best Foreign Film, Best Original Dramatic Score; British Academy Awards '98: Best Actor (Benigni); Cannes Film Festival '98: Grand Jury Prize; Cesar Awards '99: Best Foreign Film; Screen Actors Guild Award '98: Best Actor (Benigni); Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards '98: Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards '98: Best Director (Benigni), Best Film Editing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture; British Academy Awards '98: Best Foreign Film, Best Original Screenplay; Directors Guild of America Awards '98: Best Director (Benigni); Screen Actors Guild Award '98: Cast. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running Time: 122 minutes. Format: VHS.