A wonderful movie that captures the spirit of its title

Rating: Null/10 (28 March 2002)

Heh, I realize this movie is years old, but I just got a chance to see it for the first time and it's so cool! I saw the non-dubbed version--in other words, they spoke Italian with the subtitles. I've heard there's a version dubbed in English but I think that would take away a lot of the story.
This story seems to be in two parts. The first is the story of a man, Guido, a Jewish-Italian bookkeeper in the 1930's, and his efforts to get his "Princess", Dora, to love him. He's wild, wacky, and will do anything to get her to go on a date with him. This truly shows Guido's love for life and his natural exuberance. You can't help but like him!
After he marries his Princess, they have a son, Joshua, and Italy becomes occupied by the Germans. Guido and Joshua are taken to a concentration camp and Dora follows voluntarily. The children will be killed, so Guido has to convince his young son that it's all a game and keep him hidden.

I won't give away the ending of the film, but it's happy and sad at the same time. This film really touched me. It was amazingly exuberant in some places and tragic in others, and the character of Guido always brought humor to the most bleak of scenes. I can see why it won an Academy Award. Watching it in Italian with English subtitles didn't take away from it at all; in fact, it added to the dimension of the film.