Life is beautiful is really two films. The first...

Rating: 7/10 (17 September 1998)

Life is beautiful is really two films. The first part -- the story of a poor bookseller's courtship of a beautiful school teacher set in WWII Italy -- is a delight. The wryly ironic comments on the important contribution of Jewish artists, philosophers, and composers to European culture work well, as do the magical pratfalls of the always charismatic protagonist. Benigni's masterful Chaplinesque performance reveals the stupidity and hollowness of both facism and racism. The second part -- set in a concentration camp -- while it tries to further the satire of the first part -- fails. It is not funny enough to mitigate the grimmness, and it is not grim enough to do justice to history. Still, it is a noble effort and worth seeing.