An absaloute work of art! Loved it

Rating: 10/10 (25 November 2011)

This film is so unlike any other normal Holocaust film, it adds a sense of humour to the otherwise depressing subject,The film is based around a hard working Jewish man called Guido who falls in love with a German woman, Dora, they later have a son Joshua(English version) who is around five years old. Their happy and peaceful life in Italy is soon interrupted when they are taken from their home to a Nazi concentration camp, when Dora finds this out she demands to get on the train with them even though she is not Jewish. Guido throughout the film tells his son that the whole situation is a game and that the first person to get to 1000 points will be the winner and will receive a real life size tank as the prize, this stops Joshua from being scared for a while but when all the other children disappear Joshua doesn't understand why. meanwhile Guido is trying to contact Dora in anyway possible, to let her know that he is thinking of her and that they are safe. Guido is constantly trying to cover up the harsh reality of the camp but even he cannot deny the horrors he sees. A scene in particular that I found great was when Guido has finished working as a waiter for the night and is carrying Joshua back to their cabin when he sees a massive pile of bodies, the scene is shot using mist and fog to represent how people knew what was going on but chose to ignore it, the film contains many scenes such as these ones that make you think about the true message they are trying to show.
Roberto Benigni has done a fantastic job on this film, he has focused it on the individuals rather than the situation or the camp they were in. It makes you come to love the characters as individuals not just a mass race like how the Nazi's saw them, that is one of the main reasons this film is so emotional and effective. many things in this film are played down that aren't in others such as the appalling conditions and endless amounts of miserable and depressed looking people(even though that was how they were probably feeling), it shows the life of three ordinary and lovely people trying to make the most out of a horrible situation, which is why I find the film so endearing. Even the deaths are played down, I feel this is because to them it was just another person dead, it had no significance, it was just 1 in 6 million, I found this to be totally unique to the film, I would recommend EVERYONE to watch this film because not only is it a brilliant film but it gives us hope that even in the worst of situations there is always a way around it. By the end you will be just as in love with the characters as I was! Absaloutley amazing film, i will be watching this one again!