Like some silent-movie comedy, Guido's beloved Dora first falls into his arms from the top window of a barn, tumbling both of them into a haystack. Their sunny romance is presented as a series of fast-paced surprise encounters that brim with slapstick. One of the funniest has Guido pretending to be a school official sent by the Fascist government in Rome to talk about the new curriculum that emphasizes racial purity. But there are chinks in the comedy. His uncle's white horse is painted with anti-Jewish slogans by hooligans . . .
Nazi soldiers turn up in the town square.
A storm is brewing, but once it breaks, Benigni tries to fend off the lightning bolts with clever guile. The times when it looks as though he's going to fail will cause you to lose your breath. His sweet pursuit of Dora, played with coquettish shyness by Nicoletta Braschi, lets us identify with his foibles. And he has found in Giorgio Cantarini, who plays Joshua, a genuine little actor who brings the kind of poise and impish qualities last seen so effectively by the child who took center stage in the early scenes of Cinema Paradiso. Life Is Beautiful finds beauty and humanity in the most inhuman of places, something that's a small miracle in itself.