Life IS beautiful, but I prefer to take the "Train of Life"

Rating: 1/10 (13 May 2003)

When I rented this movie, about 2 years ago, I thought I was going to love it. It already had an Oscar and the ratings on IMDb were very high, so could it not be great? It was a BIG disappointment! I thought `Life Is Beautiful' lacked consistency most of all. It this movie was a Holocaust fairy tale (!?) for everyone to enjoy, it should have ended with the nazis and prisoners dancing and kissing each other, because `love conquers all'. If it was a comedy, I should have laughed more than twice. And if it was realistic, it would have ended sooner and tragically. Fortunately, my family didn't experience the Holocaust, but I have read enough about it and seen enough pictures, that I can never understand how you cannot be offended by this movie. I think a lot of people don't realize how wrong it is to trivialize the Holocaust, because it doesn't seem real to them. Can anybody even imagine a comedy about 9/11? I didn't think so. Maybe 50 years from now, when it doesn't seem so real and tragic.
Last week, I watched `Train Of Life', an European co-production about the inhabitants of a small Jewish village in Central Europe who organize a fake deportation train so that they can escape the Nazis and flee to Palestine. The subject seems as unrealistic as LIB's, but the very surprising ending makes the movie brilliant! I absolutely loved `Train Of Life', the story, the acting, the music, the humor, everything about it!
I wanted to learn more about Radu Mihaileanu, the Romanian director (a Jew himself) and found an article from "Le Nouveau Cinema" (feb.1999), entitled "Inferno Train". According to "Le Nouveau Cinema", director Radu Mihaileanu, who also wrote the script for "Train Of Life" wanted Roberto Benigni for the role of Shlomo, "the village foul". He sent the script to Benigni in 1996, but was refused politely. Strangely enough, less than a year later, Benigni was directing his own Holocaust comedy movie! Having trouble with finding financing for his movie in France (because of the delicate subject), Mihaileanu started filming a year later. This delay was more than enough for Benigni and his `La Vita E Bella'. His movie was out in theaters in Italy, during Christmas, while `Train Of Life' was still in editing. Because of the scandal surrounding the 2 movies, Gilles Jacob, the person in charge with the selections for Cannes, refused both. After Miramax bought the rights for `Life Is Beautiful' for 7 million dollars, the movie was finally selected for Cannes! In spite of everything, `Train Of Life' was nominated and won awards (about 9) all over the world. It even won the Audience Award at `Sundance' (tie with `Run Lola Run'). I recommend `Train Of Life' to everybody!