A masterpiece of masterpieces

Rating: 10/10 (2 April 2010)

Whether tomorrow you have an important job interview, are getting married, or are attending the birth of your child, cancel them all and watch this film. (Your wife will almost certainly understand.) Rarely if ever has a film poured out such bittersweet poignancy, such depth of emotion, such an ability to pull at the heartstrings.
Utterly enchanting, Life Is Beautiful captures the triumph of one man's will over disaster. It is by turns comic, by turns tragic, with a resilience which inspires faith in humankind.
Foreign films are, of course, normally rubbish. But this one bucks the trend in such spectacular fashion as to reclassify the genre.