A Story of the Gift of Life

Rating: 9/10 (27 April 1999)

Quite a debate has raged about the appropriateness of this somewhat comedic film that touches upon fascism and the Holocaust. How does a movie deal with such evil and tragedy which can easily offend an audience? The Pawnbroker (1965) touches upon such terrible experiences in a touching and yet harsh way through the pain of a Holocaust survivor. The death camp scenes in the Pawnbroker are at times not plausible but the emotion of the movie always rings true. Life is Beautiful is also centered on personal Holocaust experiences but the central character could not have been shown in the realistic way of the Pawnbroker. While the Pawnbroker deals with the anger and the trauma of a Holocaust survivor, Life is Beautiful asks the question, is there something more important than survival?
Viktor Frankl, the noted psychiatrist who endured the death camps, saw those who chose to comfort others and though starving gave away their last piece of bread. While he praises these actions, Frankl also makes a chilling comment about such sacrifice. His simple statement speaks volumes, "the best of us did not return". This is at the heart of Life is Beautiful. How does a filmmaker even dare to touch such an explosive subject which casts such a harsh light on all of us and brings profound guilt? Roberto Benigni does the impossible by the use of fable, comedy and dream.
Life is Beautiful first uses the style of the great comedian Charlie Chaplin who made the excellent film about Nazi persecution, The Great Dictator (1940). One reason why this film and Life is Beautiful are successful is that the evil of fascism is not discounted. Through the physical comic scenes we slowly see that the fascists without kindness or mercy have no heart or soul. The critics are partly right. Sometimes I felt uncomfortable with comedy in a death camp but these moments passed because this movie is more than just a comedy.
The death camp story of Life is Beautiful is also a dream and a nightmare. Here Benigni often uses the style of Fellini very effectively to show the devotion between husband and wife as well as the hell of the final solution.
Underneath the comedy and the dreams, in the end, this is a story of the gift of life from a father to son, a gift of life from one human being to another. In many details this is told through fantasy but as with the Pawnbroker, emotionally it rings true. The movie is a fitting tribute to those whose kindness could never be broken even in the death camps and who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Life is Beautiful is a timeless film that deserves every honor showered upon it. Bravo Roberto!