the greatest adventure in the most important period of the world's history.

Rating: 10/10 (24 July 1999)

first of all, we have to applaud to benigni, for bringing the true and painful story of the jewish people, during WW2. in that sense, benigni have missed the real atmosphere in a real concentration camp. well, no movie will ever succeed in bringing us the true feeling in those camps, not even 'schindler's list'. the reason is simple - we just wouldn't believe that occurences like that have realy happend in europe of the 20th century and because we like happy ends in the movies that we go to.
in his one man show, 'la vita e bella', benigni succeeds in other things, as he manages to bring us a sad story with great humour. as he manages to explain to a 5 y/o boy about the dreadful events in those days.
this is a two part movie. the first one is brighter, as it tells guido's story. his life are happy, colourfull, with a lot of fun, laughs and romance. the second part is darker as it tells guido's adventures in the con. camp. he looks tired, sad and frustrated, with the only hope of seeing his beloved wife again and saving the boy's mentality with a stupid game that he invented.
the game is what's keeping guido alive at his period in the camp. he starts making new rules for his son every day and by that he keeps his motivation to survive.
the perfect music in each of the two equally timed parts, is changing from happy tunes in the first to sad and slow in the other.
dr. lessing symbolizes the irrational change that Hitler opposed on the German people. throughout the film he admires guido's charector and inteligence. he even saves his life in one point of the movie, but it was only to ask guido a riddle that he couldn't manage to resolve. the riddles are also symbols applied on the nazis mechanic charrector, and there are lots of more symbols benigni's giving along the story.
the names have been also picked smartly. for example 'guido', who stands for jewish and 'josue', who satnds for the son who replaces his father (like joshua have replaced moses in the bible). it seems like every part in the story and in the making of the film was picked very carefully (even the boy's blonde hair to show us that jewish people are not so different) by benigi, especially in the perfect end, when it all comes together like in a perfect harmony.
the people who left the movie theater in tel aviv, where all crying in all 10 times that i saw it. some have cried because of the moving, wonderfull story and some because of the remembrance of their period in the nazi concentration and death camps all over europe.
THANK YOU benigni for making the film, and THANK YOU for making it so good. this is a "must see" movie for everyone. BRAVO!!!