Sweet, gentle, horrifying

Rating: Null/10 (29 July 2014)

I kept hearing people complain that Benigni's 'Life is Beautiful' brought shame to the subject of the holocaust simply because it was a comedy and avoided the details. I think they are mislead. I think what Benigni is trying to do is present a story of a father and a son and what the father is willing to do to protect him.
The story is really in two parts. In the first A Jewish-Italian waiter named Guido works in Italy and keeps running into the same woman who he has fallen in love with. At one point he sees her at a party and rescues her taking her away on horseback. Several years later they have married and had a son. Suddenly WWII breaks out and the three are sent to concentration camps and thus begins the second half.
In the camp Guido tries to shield his son from the horror around him. His son Giosue never sees what is really going on because his father has led him to believe that it is all a game of hide and seek and that if he wins, he will get a tank as a prize. So the movie becomes a game of cat-and-mouse as Giosue tries to stay hidden while Guido tries to keep him convinced that there really is a contest going on.
'Life is Beautiful' is a wonderful movie evoking memories of Chaplin's best work. Benigni is a talented comic actor and a very brave director. He conquers a tricky balance between a difficult subject and a light comedy. This is a high-wire act of a movie and he succeeds brilliantly.