Best film of the year, but it won't win much - and that's ok

Rating: 10/10 (1 March 1999)

After having read all of the comments here, I don't want to seem redundant with my praise. Having rated it a ten myself, I must say that I heartily agree with all the superlatives mentioned by so many others...and yet, all of it taken together still doesn't seem to do justice to the film. For me, the comparison to Chaplin is right on the money, this film stands right next to `City Lights' for its `laugh out loud' comedy, and its `hurts so bad', but joyous, tears. The final frames of both films are absolutely devastating, although for far different reasons. And both films are the product of each one's singular vision, which is what makes `La Vita e Bella' such a refreshing change from the `by the numbers', focus group driven style of contemporary American films - like you can imagine some Hollywood bigwigs getting behind a storyline like this! (What! No special effects! No sex! No violence! No Cursing! No teen appeal! No old TV sitcom rip offs! - you get the idea. I doubt that this film's whole budget could have kept the `Titanic' crew on set for more than a day.) In my humble opinion, this is by far the best picture of the year, but I doubt that it will win much more than token `Oscars', which is as it should be. The Academy Awards are Hollywood's self congratulatory party, and this understated, haunting, lyrical, and profoundly moving gem stands in opposition to all of Hollywood's recent excesses. As for me, I'll take `Life is Beautiful' over a dozen `Titanic's' any day.