Life is BeautifulA Moving and Compelling Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2011)

I first saw this movie as part of an English course at University. We were studying works on the Holocaust and had been given the opportunity to watch Life is Beautiful following a showing of Schindlers List.
I was immediately put off before the showing itself by the fact that I knew it was in Italian and would be subtitled. Paying attention to what was happening on screen whilst trying to read the dialogue was not very appealing! However, I had judged too soon. Instead, I was presented with a tragic comedy that was both hilarious and incredibly moving. I was barely anywhere through the movie when I forgot all about the subtitles and was completely drawn in.
I watched this movie again, much more recently and around 10 years after I'd first seen it, and it was even more amazing the second time around.
In the film we follow the character Guido, played magnificently by the movie's Director Roberto Benigni, through his initial hapless attempts to romance Dora (the scene where he is pretending to be a school inspector is particularly memorable), into their blossoming relationship in which she bears their only child, and then into the dark territory of the horrors that surrounded the Holocaust. In keeping with the comedy theme, in place from the opening scene of the film, we watch the second half of the movie mainly through the father/son relationship of Guido and Giorgio. Aware of the terrors around him and his family Guido turns their hopeless situation into a game. Although this is for the benefit of his son one cannot help but feel that Guido also uses the comedy as a tool to distract his adult self from his terrible situation. Benigni throws himself into his role with such passion that his audience have no choice but to share his tragic journey. His performance is over the top, and rightly so; an understated depiction of such a character would have taken something away from the impact of the film. There are some stand-out scenes which are highly effective in their execution; one of the most memorable is the one where Guido plays Belle Nuit to the entire prison camp knowing that his wife will hear. The scene is both haunting and touching and, as the viewer is shown Dora's face, we are taken on her life journey through her eyes in a few powerful seconds.
To place comedy as a running theme in a film that begins as a love story and stretches into a much darker scenario is a commendable feat. Threaded throughout the film, despite the Holocaust as its subject, are some truly uplifting moments which serve to remind the viewer that it's OK to laugh in the worst of situations.
This film is a moving and compelling masterpiece that not only grips you from the start but stays with you long after the final credits have rolled. Highly recommended.