A should-be Oscar winner

Rating: 10/10 (21 March 1999)

When I walked into a movie theatre to see this film, I had no idea what it was about. I merely thought that it would be a love story, and not being a Hollywood film, it already had bonus points. Though the characters in this movie aren't what would be considered to be typically likable, the director, Roberto Benigni, has transformed this simple story into a heart-wrenching tale of the injustice that people suffered in the second world war. However, unlike other films about this time period, Benigni captures the emotions of one small non-practising Jewish family and how the holocaust affects them. The actors' portrayals of the Orefice family allows us, the audience, to experience the misfortunes and general perils that came from concentration camps. Other films and books have led us through these horrors, but this film managed to make the audience feel a genuine pain, allowing us to actually almost smell the burning bodies, taste the watery broth that was called soup, sense the fear of being found in that hole in the last crucial moments. Benigni's direction of this remarkable film should be recognised and applauded, as it is a most phenomenal movie that should win at least an Oscar for Best Film, but as long as they are held in America, we may only hope. This film is, without a doubt, a triumph that will be remembered by movie-goers for years to come, and certainly not without reason.