Laughter is the mightiest weapon in the human arsenal.
Children believe everything their parents say.
Those are the pillars on which he builds his inspiring, heartrending, funny, sad, surprising and richly imagined film, Life Is Beautiful. As director, co-writer and star, Mr. Benigni also showcases his prodigious comic skills, which run to the playful, physical style of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. After they marry and have a child, the film takes a fearsome turn. Guido, who is Jewish, and his little boy are shipped to a Nazi labor camp. Dora follows and is locked up, too.