Remarkable and human

Rating: Null/10 (11 October 1999)

As a fan of Roberto Benigni since the marvelous Rome sequence in Jarmusch's "Night on Earth", I must say that this is the film where he truly graduates to the level of auteur. His simple, understated direction and outrageous comic presence merge perfectly into a film that is never downbeat, despite its grim subject matter.
Although I haven't hit on the correct answer as to why three of the five nominees for the Academy's best picture award were stories of World War II, I feel this film easily outdistances the other two. While "Thin Red Line" was a little too cold in its pursuit of technical perfection (but just a little), and Spielberg's "epic" floundered in hideous nationalism and bad writing, this is the only film of the three to really confront a recognizable human cost to the catastrophe. Not a bad moment in the film, not an unmoved eye in the theater.
Oh, just one more thing....there is also a marvelous, classic, lilting score by Nicola Piovani - one of the best I've heard in a film in years! Buy the album!