Ego over substance

Rating: 2/10 (4 January 2005)

As a movie this film ain't too bad. Quite a nice first half, with a beautiful setting and charming humour. However, Benigni deserves an absolute panning as he has basically stomped over the bones of 6 million jews in the concentration camps so he can reach the Hollywood summit. The premise of this movie is absolutely impossible. Anyone with any knowledge of world war two history would know that this is a disgracefully inaccurate depiction of a concentration camp, as it appears much more like a home for POWs than a location for the extermination of a race of people. However, clearly this would have prevented the movie's creation, so he chooses to ignore the facts and ploughs on regardless. Frankly, I found this movie deeply offensive, and those who regard this as a triumph of love over despair, should rather view it as a triumph of one man's ego, and a viewing public's wilful ignorance, over reality and respect for the dead.