Now, you have to mention "Benigni" in a row with Chaplin and the Marx Brothers...

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2000)

Once, I thought about Roberto Benigni to be a clown, now I know him as a comedian. Comedian, that doesn't mean, an actor, who plays funny roles, but a film-maker, who developed his own style of comic - like in the old days: In importance for movie history to compare with Charles Chaplin (and with the "Great Dictator" ), with the Marx Brothers in his sense of humour. Remember the absurdity of the hat exchange! It's the variousity of ideas and running gags, that makes it to one of the best comedies ever. The box, in which Josue is hiding to take refuge from the bath, reappears at the end when it saves from the Nazi troops, Maria's key becomes the key to a woman's heart, the tank is the ambiguous symbol for childhood dreams and warfare fright. The naivity and purity of the message is heart-healing, not ony concerning the horrors of war and concentration camps, but also concerning social and emotional boundaries that love-foolish attitudes commonly may have. It's one of the most beautiful romantic movies ever, too... As to the discussion about jewish fate vs. comedy: The first half of the film is refreshing and a flower of comedy. It seems as if Benigni said at this point, laughing at the audience: Now I show you, of what I'm really able, my comedy can't stop at nothing, because it's not only a nice film, but a mode of living. And he succeeds in a triumphal way: Not a single scene that touches uncomfortable, despite of the severe affairs... I have a new cinema hero.