An inaccurate fantasy that brings you closer to real life than anything else

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2000)

When you're taught about the Holocaust in school, it's impossible to comprehend the scale of the tragedy. When the teacher writes `six million' on the blackboard it's hard to see past the number. What we weren't taught was that the Holocaust wasn't about numbers, it was about people. Six million people like your mum and your dad, six million of your friends, six million people who had mums and dads and friends of their own. Life is Beautiful gives us the intimacy that the numbers can't translate, and for the first time, it becomes more than words in a textbook talking dryly about the unimaginable.
The first half of the movie lets us see the lives of the three lead characters, before showing us how easily they can be destroyed. Writer/director Roberto Benigni is immensely charming in the lead role, and it's sad to see him sucked into the predictability of Hollywood. They loved him in the movie, they laughed at the Oscars, but they'll only ever see him as a novelty item. Don't expect any lead roles in mainstream American cinema any time soon. The chemistry between Benigni and real-life wife Nicoletta Braschi holds the movie together, and their son is so adorable that the audience will fight over who loves him the most. This domestic bliss and light comedy is surrounded by a growing sense of danger, and the appearance of Nazi officers becomes more frequent as the film reaches its midway point.
In this atmosphere, there is a wonderful scene where Benigni is waiting at a table in a restaurant. The guests are talking about a maths problem introduced into German textbooks, which is soaked in anti-Semitic propaganda. Their lack of concern and interest makes a powerful point with great subtlety: that the Third Reich wasn't just one man. Before the seizure of power, the Nazi party had been immensely popular, and Germany's history of anti-Semitism had begun long before Adolf Hitler rose to prominence.
The second half of the movie is where its genius becomes more obvious, but where its historical accuracy becomes more obviously flawed. Guido (Benigni) and his family are taken to a concentration camp, and the only way he can explain the situation to his son is that it's a surprise for his birthday. He then turns it into a game, explaining that if they get the most points they will win a tank as first prize. This made me consider something that hadn't ever crossed my mind. How did they explain it to the children? It's impossible even for adults to truly understand the Nazi years, so how can they begin to explain such evil to children?
Their concentration camp is bizarrely relaxed and spacious, and Benigni is allowed to walk around fairly freely. This is where most of the criticism comes from; that it trivialises the experience. But while it doesn't show the full horror, it shows it on a level that the audience can understand. That Guido retains his imagination and humour has also been criticised, but it's too easy to see every prisoner as a broken spirit. This shows that resistance can be in the mind, and that it is no less powerful for being hidden.
This movie embraces the idea of history from below, that by looking at the experiences of `real people' you can understand the nature of real life within history. The Nazi years weren't just about torture and book burnings; when the books were seized and burned, how did it affect the reading habits of the German population? Did they read less often, or read only the books that were left? This idea is the key to Life is Beautiful, and you can forgive it its inaccuracies for giving us a personal experience that can then be generalised.
The ending is truly heartbreaking, and finally `six million' makes sense. Guido, his wife, and their son, were just three people, but we now understand that there were six million more just like them, who were all braver than we will ever need to be.