Beautiful and Uplifting

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2000)

My mother watched 20 minutes of this movie, decided that Roberto Benigni's character was "too stupid for life", and then turned it off. I have come to the conclusion that my mother is insane. "Life is Beautiful" has become my second favorite movie of all time. I don't quite understand how one could not love it. The movie does focus more on its message than being 100% historically accurate. But you have to remember that "Life is Beautiful" is only a MOVIE. It does recognize that concentration camps were truly horrifying places, but the movie is more about one man's ability to overcome for the sake of his little boy. I don't cry easily, but the end of this movie had me sobbing. On the one hand the most adorable little boy on the planet had been reunited with his mother, but on the other hand Guido (a man who just really appreciated life to its fullest extent) had been killed. What really got me was the line that started something like, "this was the sacrifice that my father made for me." Never has a movie flooded me with such intense yet conflicting emotions. "Life is Beautiful" is wonderful and I recommend that everybody see it!!!