A magnificent film about love during the Holocaust

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 1999)

Roberto Benigni is known in his native Italy as a comedic star. My guess is that he occupies in Italy the position that Jim Carey occupies here. This is the first of his movies I've seen, and the first half showcases his comedic skills quite well. But this film, written and directed by Benigni, is not a simple comedy.
Guido (Benigni) and his friend Feruccio (Sergio Bini Bustric) move to the city, where Guido hopes to open a bookshop. Meanwhile he becomes a waiter in the hotel where his uncle is the headwaiter. On the way to the city he meets Dora (played by the luminous Nicoletta Braschi), his Princess s he calls her, and he continues to accidentally run into her (literally). Although she is expected to marry another, she is romanced and charmed by Guido, and they run off together. They have a son, Joshua, and Guido finally opens a tiny bookshop. Creeping into this charming and funny romance are some stormclouds: anti-semitic slogans appear on walls, some stores refuse entrance to Jews, and graffiti appears on the bookshop doors.
Suddenly, Guido and Joshua are herded into a concentration camp. Not entirely understanding where they are being taken, Dora demands to accompany them on the train. While on the way to the concentration camp, Guido creates a fabulous lie for his son. The trip and camp, he lies, are part of an elaborate game for Joshua's birthday. The prize is a brand new tank (a real one, not a toy) and the activities of the camp are parts of the game.
This is a powerful film, more powerful I think than "Schindler's List." Here we are suddenly confronted with the life lost by Guido and his family. In "Schindler's List," we never see the lives of the interred. While we see their terror, we never see them as anything but prisoners. Here, the confinement is thrown into such stark contrast with the light, funny, loving, and charming life that preceded it. Once the confinement begins, the colors of the entire film change. In the first half, even a dark rainstorm seems luminous, imbued with it's own palette of grays, mauves, and purples. Italy seems to be enjoying an eternal spring full of sunlight, and bright primary colors, yellows, greens, and blues. In the camp, the entire film becomes washed out, muted and pale. The palette shifts to browns, grays, and blacks.
What does not change is Guido's determination to protect his son, Joshua. The game becomes hide-n-seek with Joshua remaining hidden long after all of the other children have been gassed. He keeps up the charade, and we are torn. On the one hand it is impossible not to admire Guido's attempts to protect Joshua. On the other hand, we hold our breaths waiting for the moment in which the lies are blown away by the winds of reality. A number of such moments arise, and we wonder if Guido can weather them.
Guido's love for his wife and child, and his never ending efforts to protect them with every resource (however limited) at his disposal, cannot help but move the viewer. His internment does not change his fundamental approach to life, no matter the circumstances. It does not change his belief in himself, in his ability to improvise, to create his own luck. Joshua is the narrator of the film, but it is Guido's movie. To see such doggedness, courage, and stamina linked to the buffoonish smile and antic movements of a Bernigni makes Guido a wonderful character.
In the opening scenes, the movie is presented as a fable. Critics who lament that the camp is not violent, that Guido has too much freedom, should bear this in mind. They should also bear in mind that the film is narrated by Joshua, not Guido, and Joshua has seen little of the camp, spending most of the time hidden in a barracks.