Definitely worth seeing

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2008)

Definitely a great movie, worth seeing. Very funny, and horrific; not in a Clockwork Orange kind of way, rather, like slapstick, jokes and slapstick. The horror of the movie unfolds as the protagonist is slowly revealed, and we see that it is told from a distance of many years. Presented as a story remembered, it could fall into a trap of too much artifice or sentimentality. It doesn't even get near that line, dealing with the horrific overtones implicit in the plot with restraint. I give this one thumbs up! Plot Synopsis: The story begins with the story of the protagonist's father, and how he met his mother. He was a Jew, and she not, in prewar (WW 2) Italy. His father is very fond of humor, slapstick and joy. He wins his wife away from another gentile. The boy protagonist is born into prewar Italy, and then we fast forward to the time period when Jews were rounded up and killed. The protagonist's father makes believe that it's all a game to the child, who is at just the right age to make it believable that he would swallow such nonsense hook line and sinker. They (all three main characters) are interred at a concentration camp; where they manage to stay alive until the allied forces come. Except that the father dies saving his child's life. Did I mention that this is a really good movie? You could rent it tonight, and have some real eye opening fun.