Begnini is no Chaplin

Rating: 5/10 (6 August 1999)

There is no subject in the world sacred or horrific enough that it cannot be dramatized for cinema. Holocaust, because it occurred so recently, is deemed an unfilmable taboo by many. Some of the people I know, refused to see Benigni's controversial film out of sheer principle. I resisted seeing it as well, but not because of the nature of its topic. Everything can be approached from many different angles, and in this case, Comedy has the most risk in striking wrong notes with the viewers. At times, Comedy ,particularly in the guise of social satire, can expose truth and even present it in a bold, provocative manner. But a Holocaust comedy? Of course, life in the concentration camp can provide plenty of material for life-affirming sentimentality, but as presented in "Life is Beautiful" it is obviously FALSE. This is simply milking a historical event of great importance to modern humanity, for the purpose of luring an unsophisticated audience to admire one's work. Benigni without a doubt makes a talented comic, and the first half of the film, when his big-mouthed character mocks Italian fascism, IS funny, precisely because it's satire. As soon as he and his on-screen son are shipped off to the camp, the object of ridicule becomes less clear. What we get is a soft toned, PG-rated, annoyingly unrealistic treatment of unspeakably brutal conditions, where death and disease prevailed. In a fantasy or a science fiction setting, the duo's exploits could have worked, but to anyone who is aware of history, they would seem implausible. It's surely a noble effort to protect one's child from the terrifying reality by pretending that the whole setting is a game, but unfortunately, had it been a real camp, both father and son would have perished within a week of their ordeal: the later would die of starvation, the former be shot on sight for excessive talking or better yet, silenced by his irritated fellow prisoners. Chaplin, whom the director is often compared to, in The Great Dictator, never even tried to exploit the "Final Solution"; wisely, he stuck to Hitler and his henchmen. Besides, Chaplin was most brilliant at silent comedy. Benigni, on the other hand, just can't seem to shut up.