What a wonderful, uplifting example of how life ought to be lived.

Rating: 10/10 (7 April 1999)

I saw this movie early on the evening of the Oscars, and I came home and did something I haven't done in years. I stayed up all the way to the end of that always overdrawn show to see if this movie would win. Perhaps this movie is a fable, but it is one with something better than a moral at the end. Benigni provides us all with a wonderful example of how man, in the face of the greatest challenges can still look out at others and do his or her best to brighten their world, especially the world of children, to help them laugh and have a better day. I don't watch movies with sub-titles all that often, but it made no difference (after the first ten minutes which were needed to adapt). In fact, I cannot imagine another voice replacing that of Benigni's, which so perfectly radiates his warmth and enthusiasm for life. Go see this movie; then go see it again. I did.