war through the eyes of a clown

Rating: 10/10 (2 December 2002)

It's hard to believe that somebody could make a comedy about World War II and Holocaust without being cynical or stupid. But Roberto Benigni managed to overwhelm with his mix of horrifying reality and unparalleled optimism. The movie gets directly to your senses from the very first moment and makes you laugh, cry, hate and hope simultaneously.
I knew Benigni as a brilliant actor from, for instance, Jim Jarmush's Down by Law, but I didn't know he was such a talented director. To me, La Vita é bella is the best film ever that shows in a very subtle way how the war destroys people's lives, and at the same time proves that the life remains really beautiful.