comparing 'la vita e bella'

Rating: Null/10 (23 July 2003)

This is a movie I will not forget. What I especially appreciated was that the movie -although it deals with the holocaust- was not predictable at all. Thereby, all things happening in front of my eyes were very pure, got lots of meaning and attacked my emotions in a way that few movies are capable of. No romantic lovestory, no heroes, and in the end no words, just music; words only cannot describe the suffering. Terrible scenes at times, but life itself is much more terrible, one couldn't even imagine...
I would like to compare this movie with La vita e bella for a change. Both movies seem to go for showing the madness behind the holocaust (and human nature in general). The pianist uses a (ultra)realistic approach, while La vita e bella uses humor and fantasy. Polanski escapes in silence and music, Benigni in tragical jokes and gestures. I think both movies really contribute to the genre because they give another point of view. It might be the same old story that is told and that story might be easy to 'score' with, but one has to realize that comparible situations are still going on in other countries NOW. So why not use contemporary technics/ storytelling to find one's own reality in the NOW?
Why not compare it with Schindlers' list? I disliked the scene with the little girl in red dress walking through the black and white landscape. It's a really hard technic to provoke any feeling, so my stomach almost turned inside-out instead of feeling compassion... I didn't see much truth in that movie at all...
Thanks Roman and Alberto!