the most non Nazi related Nazi movie you'll watch

Rating: 9/10 (31 August 2016)

What happens when Charlie Chaplin meets Woody Allen? A question better left for Roberto Benigni to answer, The brilliant Italian who is the winner of "Best Actor" Oscar award, starred, co-wrote AND directed this masterpiece was definitely the right man in the right place.
This Oscar winner for "best foreign language film" in 1997 is set in Italy in the 1930s follows the story of Guido (Roberto Benigni), and Italian Jewish waiter who works in his uncle's hotel. Guido, an eccentric comic who seems to find humor in the darkest of times meets the beautiful school teacher Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's real life wife) and he instantly falls in love with her and finds himself starting a subtle rivalry with her Fascist fiancé.
The first act of the movie can be classified as pure romantic comedy, and can actually be considered an entire movie on its own, a rather good one actually, between Guido's humorous relationship with Dr.
Lessing- the German doctor who becomes a regular at the hotel because of Guido and their mutual love for riddles and brain pickers- his adventures around town with his friend Ferrucio, and his unforgettable night with Dora ending up with him indirectly confessing his love for her not knowing she was engaged, this first act was so perfectly set up so that we don't realize the bitter truth until very late in the act, the fact that Guido is in fact, Jewish.
The second act is what could be the model answer of the question in the first line of this article, was indeed Chaplin meets Allen,the tears of a clown, when Guido, his uncle and his son Joshua (Georgio Cantareni) are taken to a concentration camp where the loving father sets up a scheme to convince his son that what's happening here is nothing but a game that is made for his own entertainment.
Benigni hits a nerve with his touching story, breaking all the rules and brings us tragedy disguised in comedy, reminding us that what may look as political affairs, all go back to the same roots, basic human ingenuity.
"Life is beautiful" is not a political movie, it's not the summer's hit romantic comedy and it definitely isn't the action blockbuster you'll wait in line to watch, it's human spirit in form of delicate, light hearted comedy, Benigni did not make a comedy out of the Holocaust, Benigni created life out of death, and made the entire world stand in awe in the process.