Best

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2014)

Sentimental and contrived, Benigni's well-intentioned Holocaust framed may only work as a children's fable. Inexplicably, it won a prize at the 1998 Cannes Festival. Audiences will be laughing hysterically while crying their eyes out. If this is a fantasy, it is probably a compensation we need when facing the reality of history. The film's highlight is one man's battle to keep the ugliness of the world from his innocent son, no matter how ugly the world might be, and in this case that means the death camps of the Nazis. I think you have to give this film credit just for having the guts to address a heavy subject like the Holocaust in the manner done here, which is predominately with a lighthearted tone. That's a big risk, but it mostly pays off here.