The true-life Chaplin connection

Rating: 9/10 (3 March 1999)

You will read many comparison's in these reviews to Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" (1940).
This is not a coincidence. Benigni has described "Life is Beautiful" as an homage to Chaplin's film, which he has seen many times.
In fact, the number on his prison camp uniform is the same number on Chaplin's uniform in "Dictator."
I was charmed the first time I saw this movie, and knew of course it was a masterpiece, but on second viewing the film had much more power. I took my mother, who loved it, and now want to see it again. A lot of little details can go by if you're not careful. See it again if you have a chance.
Benigni's generous love and affection have such power. I truly feel sorry for the poor louts who think it is a "comic treatment" of the Holocaust, or that it uses the Holocaust as a "backdrop" for comedy. This is simply not the case.
I rearranged the letters in "Life is Beautiful" to create the following ironic anagram: "Lie a bit, if useful."