Love, courage and hope in the face

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2004)

Italy. Late thirties. Guido Orefice, a Jew, decides to leave the country to make it big in the city. On his way to the city, he meets Dora, an angel litterally fallen from the sky, and immediately falls for her. Once settled in the city, he will meet her again by accident, when he almost runs her down with his bicycle. After the first two fortuitous encounters, Guido will give Lady Luck a nudge and provoke other meetings, until Dora finally falls for him. They will get married and have an only child, Giosué.
On the day of Giosué's fifth birthday, the Nazis take Guido and his son to a concentration camp. As they are about to be taken away, Dora, who is not Jewish, demands to be put on the train also.
As soon as he realises what is happening, Guido puts on a happy face and invents a game to protect Giosué from the horror of the concentration camp. His goal: keep his son alive and in good spirits while trying to let his wife know that both of them are still alive.
I was mesmerized my this movie. It has a flow that is unusual. Standard story-telling tends to put THE pivoting moment of the story during the first quarter of the movie. In Life Is Beautiful, the pivoting moment occurs closer to the halfway mark.
There also is a definite before/after feel to the movie. The first half of the movie is very upbeat, lively and comical. The second half is more demure, without being depressing.
The performance of the actors is excellent. Roberto Benigni's acting is a bit over the top at times, but he always remains credible. His wife, Nicoletta Braschi, plays Dora and the chemistry between them is palpable. Young Giosué is not as good, but at that age, we can let it slide.

I especially enjoyed the role of Dr. Lessing, a person completely obsessed with riddles. A telling moment of the movie shows Dr. Lessing's complete obliviousness to the situation faced by the prisoners in the camp. It is very revealing of the state of mind of members of the dominating force in a war. On a smaller scale, it also shows that we humans tend to focus a bit too much on our own little problems, while ignoring the predicament of countless others less fortunate.
Some have said that this movie is an insult to the memory of all the Jews that died in WWII. I wonder why. Is it because there is humour in the movie? It wouldn't be the first time that war-era comedy has been put on the screen (MASH, Hogan's Heroes).
Is it because one man is trying to trivialize the situation for his son? I think it's amazing that a father was able to forget about himself completely, in order to keep a smile on his son's face.

Is it because the movie is not depressing enough? In most movies about concentration camps that I've seen, there is a heavy emphasis on the plight of the people. The general atmosphere is usually extremely depressing. In "Life Is Beautiful" we are spared the gloominess of it all. Instead, focus is turned to the heroics of the father and the innocence and awe of his young son.
This movie touches you because of the love and attachment that is evident between Guido, Dora and Giosué. It touches you because of the improbable explanations Guido can invent, to keep his son in the dark. It touches you because it shows, once again, that no matter what the odds are, if a person really wants to achieve a goal and is ready to face the challenges on his way towards that goal, he or she can always pull through.