One of the warmest, love-filled films I've ever seen.

Rating: 10/10 (8 November 2001)

Written for my high school's weekly new supplement my junior year.
I saw the Italian masterpiece Life is Beautiful twice before Thanksgiving and after I saw it I recommended it to just about everyone who crossed my path. Unlike the last brilliant film I reviewed, Rushmore, this film should certainly be enjoyed by everyone, as it is as worldly a movie as you can get. To say it is about this Holocaust is a gross understatement, for put together with the rest of the story which focuses on love, life, and love of life it almost serves as a background.
The first half of this very different film by virtuoso writer, director, star Roberto Benigni is complete comedy. It portrays the enamored main character, a life-loving Italian Jew named Guido, chasing after the woman of his dreams, Dora (Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi), who is about to be forced into an unhappy marriage. The comedy is so pure, even if you don't enjoy some of the slapstick you cannot help be taken in by the heart that is at it source. Eventually, through a series of hilarious coincidences, he wins Dora over, and together they have a son, Joshua (Giorgio Cantarini).
Throughout the first half of the film, the audience catches glimpses of the evil that lies below the thick layer of humor and warmth. It is World War II, and the Fascist regime is growing in Italy, and through a sign here and anti-Semitic comment there we get the picture of what is going on. On Joshua's fifth birthday, he and Guido are taken away to a concentration/work camp in Italy. Trying to save her family, Dora, who is part of a prominent Italian family and not to be touched by the Fascists, begs to be placed on the train and gets her wish, only to be separated to a special women's camp. Innocent Joshua, though, wants to know what is going on, and Guido explains to him that this is a big trip that he has planned for Joshua's birthday. The rest of the film shows the different ways in which Guido convinces his son that the camp is all a game, and if you score one thousand points (for such things as good behavior, being quiet during the day, etc.), you win a real tank. Though occasionally Joshua senses something wrong, he has so much faith and love for his father that he wouldn't dare doubt him.

Though the second half of this film may seem depressing and unhappy by what I write, you will still smile at the love, warmth, and amazing humor that Guido, in this most awful time, still maintains just for the sake of his son. In the first part of the film, the visuals are full of life, color, and beauty (in certain instances to an almost unreal extent), but in the second part, many of the colors are dull and lifeless to contrast the change in environment with the struggling brightness of Guido's hope and joy. The beautiful score written for this film (including Offenbach's Barcarolle) is the perfect compliment to the different moods that are portrayed throughout the movie.
By the end of this film, you are uplifted instead of put down by the bittersweet joy and the true beauty of life which is so wonderfully portrayed by Benigni's characters and story. The acting is a flawless blend of humor and pathos, and the fact that the film itself flows so extremely smoothly between its two distinct parts alone shows what immense talent Benigni possesses.
Life is Beautiful is a film that should be seen by anyone who has the chance to go out and see a movie. It is a shame that I am only given so much room to write about it, but I wouldn't want to give any of the surprises away either.