Great humor makes a great movie.

Rating: 10/10 (30 June 2010)

It was almost 10 years ago that I watched this movie for the first time. Since then it has been one of my favorite movies. It deals with various things like love, family, relationships, and the Holocaust. However, what I love the most of this movie is the 'humor'. I believe it plays a core role making all the stories more radiant and impressive in this movie.
This movie, set in late 1930s Italy, is roughly divided into two parts. The first part is focused on love and a happy family. A Jewish guy, Guido (Roberto Benigni) is a man of a brilliant sense of humor and has a talent to make people happy. He happens to meet a beautiful woman, Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) and soon falls in love with and gets married to her. They soon have a lovely son, named Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini). Guido, as a husband and father, always makes his family laugh, so they lead a happy life. The second part of this movie is about a miserable life in a Nazi Concentration Camp. Guido's family are sent to a place where it is extremely difficult to find any hope. However, Guido, a born witty person and devoted father, tries to make his son believe the life of this place just a "hide and seek game" in order not to let him know the devastating reality.
Guido's humor reaches its peak when Guido is being dragged to be killed by a German soldier while his son is watching him. He gives his son a wink and walks away pretending he is performing one of the missions of the game not being killed, which makes this movie touching and impressive. This scene shows mixed feelings: love, sorrow, sacrifice, and devotion and these feelings are maximized by Guido's witty wink.
Although it could be "a simple story" like the narrator says, it is also a great one because it shows that good humor makes things different and has a power to overcome all difficulties. I was deeply moved by this movie. If you feel life is unfair and not on your side, I strongly recommend you to see this movie and get wisdom from Guido.